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EXHIBITING  IN  POUNDS  AND  OUNCES  THE  AMOUNT  OF  MILK  PRODUCED  BY 
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DAYS. 


EXPERIMENTAL  RESEARCHES 


ON 


THE  FOOD  OF  ANIMALS, 


AND   THE 


FATTENING  OF  CATTLE. 

WITH  REMARKS  ON 

THE  FOOD  OF  MAN. 


BASED  UPON  EXPERIMENTS  UNDERTAKEN  BY  ORDER  OF 
THE  BRITISH  GOVERNMENT. 


BY 

ROBERT  DUNDAS  THOMSON,  M.  D. 

LECTURER    ON   PRACTICAL   CHEMISTRY,    UNIVERSITY    OF   GLASGOW. 


FROM  THE  LAST  LONDON  EDITION. 


NEW   YORK: 

O.    M.    SAXTON    AND     COMPANY, 

AGRICULTURAL    BOOK    PUBLISHERS, 

No.  140  Fulton  Street. 

1S5G. 


T37 


TO 


DR.  THOMAS  THOMSON 


AND 


BARON  IIEBIG, 


TO    WHOM    THE    AUTHOR    OWES    HIS    ACQUAINTANCE 
WITH    THE    SCIENCE    OF    CHEMISTRY, 


Sl)t0  (Hontnbutton 


TOWARDS  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  SUBJECT  OF  THK 

GROWTH  OF  ANIMALS 

IS 

AFFECTIONATELY    INSCRIBED. 


• 


PREFACE. 


The  present  Work  is  based  on  an  extensive  series  of 
experiments  which  were  made  at  the  instance  of  the  Gov- 
ernment.  The  original  object  of  that  inquiry  was  to  de- 
termine the  relative  influence  of  barley  and  malt  in  feed- 
ing cattle  ;  but  as  the  opportunity  seemed  a  favorable  one 
for  investigating  some  scientific  problems  of  great  impor- 
tance to  physiology,  and  of  extreme  value  in  the  physical 
management  of  man  and  animals,  advantage  was  taken 
of  it,  by  permission,  to  extend  the  experiments  so  as  to  in- 
clude these  objects. 

It  is  well  known  to  those  who  have  been  in  the  habit  of 
late  years  of  following  the  researches  which  have  been 
undertaken  to  elucidate  the  nature  of  the  growth  of  ani- 
mals, that  it  is  now  generally  agreed  that  the  muscular 
part  of  animals  is  derived  from  the  fibrinous  or  nitroge- 
nous ingredients  of  the  food,  while  the  source  of  animal 
fat  has  been  disputed.  The  present  experiments  seem  to 
demonstrate  that  the  fat  of  animals  cannot  be  produced 
from  the  oil  of  the  food,  but  must  be  evolved  from  the  ca- 
lorifient,  or  heat-forming  portion  of  the  aliment,  essential- 
ly assisted  by  its  nitrogenous  materials.  By  following  out 
this  principle,  the  author  has  been  enabled  to  detect  an 
important  relation  subsisting  between  the  nutritive  and  ca- 
lorifient  portion  of  the  food,  upon  the  determination  of 
which,  for  the  various  conditions  of  animals,  he  considers 
the  laws  of  animal  dieting  depend.     He  has  endeavored 


8  PREFACE. 

to  apply  this  law  to  various  articles  of  human  food  ;  and 
he  trusts  that  the  basis  has  been  laid  for  future  researches, 
which  may  be  directed  to  administer  to  the  health  and  com- 
fort of  mankind,  and  of  domesticated  animals.  In  conduct- 
ing the  experiments  upon  cattle,  the  author  found  not  only 
his  habitual  acquaintance  with  animals,  but  also  his  med- 
ical knowledge  in  continual  requisition  in  consequence  of 
the  tendency  of  the  varied  conditions  of  the  animal  sys- 
tem, from  the  sudden  and  frequent  changes  of  diet,  to 
induce  symptoms  of  disease.  These  were  carefully  watch- 
ed, and  overcome  by  such  precautions  as  clearly  follow 
from  a  due  consideration  of  the  principles  announced  in 
this  work.  It  was  on  this  account,  and  to  enable  the  ag- 
riculturist to  appreciate  the  advantage  which  he  would 
derive  from  physiological  and  chemical  knowledge,  rather 
than  to  give  anatomical  instruction  to  the  professional  man, 
that  the  introductory  chapters  were  written.  In  a  work 
professing  to  be  the  result  of  entirely  original  experiments, 
and  where  such  a  mass  of  figures  exist,  errors  must  una- 
voidably have  been  overlooked,  even  although  great  care 
has  been  taken  to  diminish  their  number.  The  author, 
however,  trusts  that  none  will  be  detected  which  can  ma- 
terially interfere  with  the  principles  deduced  from  the  re. 
searches. 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER  I. 

Introduction. — Different  Explanations  of  Digestion. — The  Im- 
portance of  Researches  to  discover  its  true  Nature. — Sim- 
plicity of  Living,  and  not  the  Savage  Life,  conducive  to 
Health Page  1 

CHAPTER  II. 

Hunger  and  Thirst  are  Laws  of  Nature. — Anecdote. — Mastica- 
tion or  Chewing  necessary  as  a  Preparation  for  Digestion. 
— Importance  of  the  fine  Division  of  Food  for  the  Production 
of  Milk  in  Cows. — Experiment  illustrative  of  this  Position. — 
Alcohol  not  necessary  in  Human  and  Animal  Diet. — Anec- 
dote of  a  Foreigner. — Definition  of  Digestion         .         .     17 

CHAPTER  III. 

Human  Organs  of  Digestion. — Description  and  Figure. — Di- 
gestion a  Solution  in  the  Stomach,  but  how  produced  is  un- 
known.— Proofs  of  the  Absence  of  Free  Hydrochloric  Acid 
in  the  Stomach. — Argument  from  the  Composition  of  the 
Food. — Intoxication  produced  by  Oysters. — Anecdotes. — Di- 
gestive Organs  in  Animals  chewing  the  Cud  — Description 
and  Figure. — Detection  of  the  Food  in  the  Blood. — Enor- 
mous Draughts  of  Water  taken  by  Cows. — Explanation  of 
the  Action  of  Purgatives.— Conversion  of  Blood  into  Chyle. 
— Parallelism  between  Milk,  Flour,  and  Blood     .         .25 


10  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COWS. 

Description  of  Brown  and  White  Cow. — Influence  of  Symme- 
try upon  the  Amount  of  Milk. — The  Health  of  an  Animal  de- 
pends on  the  proper  Relation  of  its  Organs. — Difference  of 
Constitution  of  Animals  depends  on  the  Nervous  System. — 
Fat  Animals  often  to  be  considered  as  in  a  State  of  Dis- 
ease   ■         .  Page  45 

CHAPTER  V. 

INFLUENCE  OF  GRASS  WHEN  USED  AS  DIET. 

Tables  of  Milk  and  Butter  produced  by  Grass  during  Fourteen 
Days. — Composition  of  the  Milk. — Amount  of  Food  consum- 
ed.— Of  the  Source  of  the  Butter  in  the  Grass. — Amount  of 
Wax  in  the  Food. — Composition  of  Butter. — Mode  of  pre- 
serving Butter  fresh  for  any  length  of  Time. — Improbability 
of  Wax  being  converted  into  Butter. — On  the  Nature  of 
Grass  and  Hay  as  Food. — Analysis  of  Hay. — Grass  loses 
Nutritive  Matter  when  converted  into  Hay  in  this  Country. — 
Table  of  Fall  of  Rain. — Process  of  Artificial  Haymaking 
suggested. — Analysis  of  Stem  and  Seeds  of  Rye  Grass. — 
Importance  of  making  Hay  before  Grass  begins  to  seed     54 

CHAPTER  VI. 

ON  BARLEY  AND  MALT  DIET. 

Barley  and  Malt,  when  not  crushed,  although  steeped  in  Hot 
Water,  are  imperfectly  digested  by  Cows. — Too  large  a 
Quantity  of  Grain  diminishes  the  Amount  of  Milk. — Barley 
produces  a  greater  Quantity  of  Milk  and  Butter  than  Malt. — 
Difference  in  the  ultimate  Composition  of  Barley  and  Malt. — 
Difference  in  the  Amount  of  Nitrogen  in  Barley  and  Malt. — 
Difference  in  the  Saline  Constituents  of  Barley  and  Malt. — 
Effect  of  the  Prooess  of  Malting  .  .         .         .79 


CONTENTS.  1 1 


CHAPTER  VII. 

EFFECT    OF    MOLASSES,    LINSEED,  AND  BEANS,  IN  THE  PRODUCTION 
OF  MILK  AND  BUTTER. 

Molasses  gives  less  Milk  and  Butter  than  a  Diet  containing  more 
Nitrogen. — Linseed  gave  less  Butter  than  Bean  Meal,  al- 
though containing  more  Oil,  probably  in  consequence  of  the 
Constituents  of  Beans  being  in  the  natural  Proportion  to  re- 
store the  Waste  of  the  Animal  System  .  .     Page  114 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Quantity  of  Milk  produced  by  different  Kinds  of  Food. — Effect 
of  Grass  in  producing  Milk. — Influence  of  Variety  of  Food 
on  Milk  and  on  Man. — Economical  Dishes  for  the  Poor. — 
Effect  of  Barley  and  Malt  on  Milk. — Effect  of  Molasses, 
Linseed,  and  Beans  on  the  Production  of  Milk. — Influence  of 
Quantity  of  Grain  in  the  Production  of  Milk. — Rate  at  which 
Food  is  changed  into  Milk. — Relative  Influence  of  different 
kinds  of  Food  in  the  Production  of  Butter  .  .     125 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Muscle  of  the  Body  supplied  by  the  Fibrin  of  the  Food. — Fi- 
brin supplies  heat  to  the  Body. — Additional  or  Calorifient 
Food  also  required. — Amount  of  Nutritive  and  Calorifient 
Food  consumed  by  a  Cow  per  Day. — The  true  Laws  of  Di- 
eting.— Amount  of  Nutritive  Matter  in  various  Kinds  of 
Vegetable  Food. — Arrow-root  improper  for  Infant  Food, 
but  useful  in  Diseases. — The  largest  Quantity  of  Milk  pro- 
duced by  Food  containing  the  greatest  Amount  of  Nitrogen. 
— Grass  an  Exception  to  this  Rule. — Explanation  of  this 
Fact. — New  Forms  of  Bread. — Oatmeal  Bread. — Barley 
Bread. — Indian  Corn  Bread. — Peas  Bread. — Mode  of  baking. 
- — Difference  between  Fermented  and  Unfermented  Bread. — 
Unfermented  Bread  recommended         ....     143 


12  CONTENTS. 


APPENDIX. 

Table  I.   Relations  of  the  Food  to   the  Products  of 

Two    Cows  ....     Page  166 

Table  II.  Amount  of  Oil  and  Wax  in  the  Food,  and  of 

the  Butter,  in  each  Cow  .  .         .     197 

Table  III.  Amount  of  Oil  and  Wax  in  the  Food,  and  of 

the  Butter,  in  both  Cows  .         .         .     169 

Table  IV.  Ratios  of  Food,  Milk,  and  Butter  .  .  170 
Table  V.  Amount  of  Wax  and  Oil  in  different  Kinds  of 

Food,  and  in  Dung  ....     171 

Table  VI.  Comparison  between  the  Wax  of  the  Food 

and  the  Butter,  and  the  Wax  in  Dung  .     .     172 


RESEARCHES 


ON 


THE    FOOD   OF   ANIMALS, 

&C.    &C. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTION. — DIFFERENT    EXPLANATIONS    OF    DIGESTION. IMPORTANCE 

OF   RESEARCHES    TO    DISCOVER   ITS    TRUE   NATURE. SIMPLICITY  OF    LIV- 
ING,   AND    NOT    THE    SAVAGE    LIFE,    CONDUCIVE    TO    HEALTH. 

It  is  a  remark  no  less  old  than  true,  That  we  are 
often  less  acquainted  with  the  nature  of  facts  of  every- 
day occurrence,  than  with  those  of  a  rarer  description. 
This  may  proceed  from  one  of  two  causes  ;  either  from 
the  phenomena  constantly  under  our  notice  being  neg- 
lected, in  consequence  of  our  familiarity  with  them,  or 
from  the  complexity  of  their  nature,  and  the  intricate 
purposes  which  they  ultimately  subserve.  Some  phy- 
siologists, who  have  endeavored  to  explain  the  nature 
of  the  process  of  digestion,  would  ascribe  our  ignorance 
of  that  important  function  to  the  former  of  these  causes  ; 
since  they  refer  the  preparation  of  the  food  in  the  stomach 
for  the  purpose  of  nourishing  the  body  to  the  presence 
in  that  organ  of  an  acid,  which,  according  to  them,  sim- 
ply dissolves  the  food,  and  enables  it  to  enter  as  a  con- 
stituent of  the  circulating  fluids  of  the  animal  system. 
The  acid  which  effects  this  important  object  is  the  hy- 


11  INTRODUCTION. 

drochloric  acid ;  which  they  consider  to  have  been  satis- 
factorily proved  to  be  present  during  the  period  when 
food  exists  in  the  stomach,  and  they  conceive  that  they 
can  imitate  the  process  of  animal  digestion  in  glass,  or 
other  vessels  out  of  the  body,  simply  by  exposing  ani- 
mal and  vegetable  food  to  the  influence  of  dilute  acids. 
Another  class  of  individuals,  who  have  studied  the  in- 
teresting changes  which  the  food  undergoes  in  the 
stomach  and  intestines,  conceive  that  we  are  still  unac- 
quainted with  the  true  nature  of  this  process,  and  are 
inclined  to  the  opinion  that  the  reason  why  we  are  not 
sufficiently  conversant  with  the  phenomena  of  digestion, 
depends  more  on  their  intricacy  and  obscurity  than  upon 
a  deficiency  of  research  and  observation  ;  and  that  while 
we  possess  some  facts  which  seem  to  indicate  the  di- 
rection in  which  we  are  to  search  for  a  solution  of  the 
difficulties  of  the  subject,  we  are  still  at  a  great  distance 
from  the  elucidation  of  the  precise  manner  in  which 
animals  digest  their  food. 

There  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  if  we  understood  the 
nature  of  the  process  by  which  the  food  which  we 
swallow  is  converted  into  living  flesh,  important  results 
would  follow  in  reference  to  the  preservation  of  the 
health  of  animals,  and  the  treatment  of  diseases.  If  we 
were  properly  acquainted  with  every  transformation 
through  which  the  constituents  of  the  food  pass  after  it 
has  been  masticated,  until  it  is  finally  removed  from  the 
system,  it  is  clear  that,  in  cases  where  the  stomach  is 
unable  to  perform  its  accustomed  functions,  the  assist- 
ance of  art  might  be  called  in  to  minister  to  digestion. 
Even  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge,  civilized 
nations  cook  their  food,  or,  in  other  words,  endeavor  to 
imitate  the  primary  stage  of  digestion,  while  the  savage 


DIGESTION.  15 

in  his  wild,  untutored  state,  being  in  a  condition  akin 
to  that  of  the  beasts  of  the  forest,  scarcely  stands  in 
need  of  the  assistance  of  art,  and  devours  his  prey  with 
less  of  enjoyment  than  of  necessity. 

It  has  been  a  favorite  speculation  with  some  philoso- 
phers, that  as  beasts  thrive  best  in  the  forest,  so  man  is 
most  healthy  in  the  savage  state  ;  that  when  accustomed 
to  brave  the  severity  of  the  winter's  cold  and  summer's 
heat,  to  contend  with  the  snow  and  the  thunder  storm 
without  the  protection  of  clothing,  or  pampering  food, 
he  is  armed,  like  the  Spartan  of  old,  with  a  shield 
against  the  disease  and  early  death  so  prevalent  among 
the  members  of  refined  societies  ;  that  the  catalogue  of 
maladies  existing  among  a  primitive  people  is  exceed- 
ingly limited,  and  that  it  augments  in  volume  precisely 
in  proportion  to  the  encroachments  of  civilization,  and 
to  the  departure  from  those  simple  laws  by  which  na- 
ture, in  her  unsophisticated  state,  is  uniformly  guided. 
So  far  has  this  view  been  carried  by  some  advocates, 
that  it  was  the  opinion  of  Plato,  that  after  certain  medi- 
cines were  introduced  by  Podalirius  and  Machaon  at 
the  siege  of  Troy,  different  diseases,  which  these  medi- 
cines produced,  became  prevalent.  It  can  scarcely  be 
denied,  that  while  these  opinions  are  founded  in  truth, 
they  have  been  greatly  exaggerated,  and  made  to  tell  in 
the  wrong  direction.  It  is  quite  true  that  simplicity  in 
diet  is  better  fitted  to  perpetuate  health  than  stimulating 
and  unnatural  food  ;  but  it  is  not  necessary  that,  in  or- 
der to  acquire  health,  man  should  return  to  the  actual 
condition  of  the  savage  ;  nor  is  it  incumbent  that,  al- 
though our  domestic  animals  are  seen  to  thrive  well  in 
their  primitive  forests,  they  should  be  cast  loose  under 
literally  the  same  circumstances.     In  other  words,  it 


16  DIGESTION. 

does  not  follow,  because  savage  man  and  animals  are 
healthy,  that  civilized  man  and  his  attendant  animals 
should  be  diseased.  A  little  reflection  will  show,  that 
a  greater  amount  of  knowledge  is  required  to  manage 
animals  which  are  subjected  to  artificial  restraints  than 
in  their  original  condition  ;  for  while  man  in  a  social 
state  undergoes  more  mental  and  physical  fatigue  than 
in  a  state  of  mere  nature,  so  his  attendant  animals  being 
placed  under  certain  restrictions,  foreign  as  it  were  to 
their  primitive  condition,  it  is  necessary  for  those  who 
direct  their  attention  to  the  management  of  the  physical 
nature  of  both  man  and  animals,  to  possess  such  an  ac- 
quaintance with  their  construction  and  requirements,  as 
to  be  able  to  lay  down  regulations  for  retaining  them  in 
a  healthy  and  natural  condition  of  body,  and  to  prevent 
cattle,  more  especially,  from  acquiring  that  unwhole- 
some fat  condition  which,  from  want  of  due  attention 
to  the  nature  of  the  animal's  system,  has  assumed  al- 
most the  aspect  of  a  permanent  fallacy. 

To  render  the  doctrines  to  be  laid  down  in  the  sub- 
sequent part  of  this  work  more  intelligible,  it  will  be 
proper  to  describe  briefly  the  organs  of  digestion  in 
man  and  cattle,  and  to  notice  the  opinions  entertained 
respecting  the  nature  of  digestion.  In  accomplishing 
this,  it  will  be  necessary  to  distinguish  between  what  is 
known  and  what  is  assumed. 


HUNGER    AND    THIRST.  17 


CHAPTER  II 

HUNGER  AND  THIRST  ARE  LAWS  OF  NATURE.— ANECDOTE. — MASTICATION 
OR  CHEWING  NECESSARY  AS  A  PREPARATION  FOR  DIGESTION. IMPOR- 
TANCE OF  THE  FINE    DIVISION   OF  FOOD    FOR   THE    PRODUCTION   OF   MILK 

IN    COWS. EXPERIMENT     ILLUSTRATIVE    OF     THIS     POSITION. ALCOHOL 

NOT    NECESSARY    IN  HUMAN    AND  ANIMAL    DIET. ANECDOTE    OF  A    FOR- 
EIGNER.  DEFINITION   OF  DIGESTION. 

Hunger  and  thirst  are  the  preliminary  steps  to  di- 
gestion ;  they  constitute  a  law  implanted  in  the  animal 
economy  for  the  purpose  of  inducing  the  living  being 
to  take  such  nourishment  as  is  required  to  sustain  that 
waste  of  the  system  which  animated  nature  is  contin- 
ually undergoing.  If  the  dictates  of  the  sensation  of 
hunger  and  thirst  are  rationally  obeyed,  satisfaction  and 
healthy  digestion  are  the  result ;  but  if,  on  the  contrary, 
these  important  sensations  are  neglected,  weakness  and 
disease  must  necessarily  ensue.  Appetite,  or,  in  its 
more  advanced  stage,  hunger,  teaches  animals  to  seek 
for  solid  food,  and  thirst  suggests  the  propriety  of  ren- 
dering the  solid  mass  more  pulpy  and  dilute  by  the 
employment  of  drink.  Experience  and  reason,  both 
in  man  and  brutes,  must  in  some  measure  direct  the 
selection  of  the  proper  objects  to  be  employed  for  these 
purposes.  I  was  some  years  ago  consulted  by  a  wor- 
thy individual  with  regard  to  the  propriety  of  fasting  as 
a  religious  observance.  I  told  him  that  the  sensation 
of  hunger  and  thirst  constituted  a  most  important  law 
in  the  animal  economy,  destined  by  the  Creator  for  the 

9* 


18  MASTICATION, 

most  beneficent  purposes  ;  that  it  ought  to  be  obeyed 
as  a  matter  of  duty,  and  that  if  infringed,  some  preju- 
dicial result  would  necessarily  ensue  ;  because  it  is  no 
argument  in  favor  of  any  such  experiment  upon  human 
life  that  existence  does  not  terminate  upon  its  adoption, 
or  that  the  symptoms  of  some  frightful  disease  are  not 
instantly  ushered  in.  The  seeds  of  future  mischief 
may  be  sown  by  one  experiment,  and  may  only  lie  dor- 
mant until  a  second  or  succeeding  infringement  shall 
cause  them  to  spring  forth  into  living  activity.  In  the 
course  of  the  extensive  series  of  experiments  upon 
cows  afterwards  to  be  detailed,  it  was  found  that,  when 
they  were  not  supplied  with  sufficient  food  during  one 
day  the  product  of  milk  was  a  day  or  two  in  reaching 
its  former  average  ;  thus  demonstrating  that  the  animal 
had  been  weakened  by  the  abstinence,  inasmuch  as  it 
took  a  longer  period  to  reach  its  ordinary  condition  than 
was  required  to  reduce  it.  The  milk,  in  such  an  ex- 
periment, corresponds  with  the  muscle  and  fatty  por- 
tions of  the  body  of  animals  which  do  not  supply  milk  ; 
hence  abstinence  in  all  animals  must  be  followed  by  a 
diminution  of  the  weight  of  the  body.  It  has  been 
well  remarked  by  Liebig,  that  "in  the  process  of  star- 
vation it  is  not  only  the  fat  which  disappears,  but  also 
by  degrees  all  such  of  the  solids  as  are  capable  of  be- 
ing dissolved.  In  the  wasted  bodies  of  those  who  have 
suffered  starvation,  the  muscles  are  shrunk,  and  un- 
naturally soft,  and  have  lost  their  contractility  :  all  these 
parts  of  the  body  which  were  capable  of  entering  into 
the  state  of  motion  have  served  to  protect  the  remain- 
der of  the  frame  from  the  destructive  influence  of  the 
atmosphere."  (Liebig,  p.  26.)  There  is  no  difference 
in  this  respect  between  one  set  of  animals  and  another. 


OR    CHEWING.  19 

Civilized  and  savage  men,  wild  and  domestic  animals, 
must  all  be  classed  under  the  same  category. 

In  the  human  species  a  morsel  of  food  is  grasped  by 
the  front  teeth  of  both  jaws,  which  are  each  supplied 
with  sixteen  teeth,  making  thirty-two  in  all.  In  those 
animals  which  chew  the  cud,  as  they  have  only  one 
row  of  teeth  the  food  is  less  firmly  grasped  by  the  jaws, 
and  there  is,  therefore,  a  greater  necessity  that  it  should 
be  of  a  soft  and  pliable  nature.  By  the  assistance  of 
the  lips,  jaws,  tongue,  and  auxiliary  muscles,  the  food 
is  conveyed  into  the  cavity  of  the  mouth,  and  by  the 
aid  of  the  tongue  and  lateral  motion  of  the  mouth  it  is 
placed  between  the  opposing  jaws,  where  it  is  masti- 
cated or  ground  to  a  proper  consistence.  But  the  ac- 
tion of  the  jaws  in  grinding  the  morsel  introduced  be- 
tween them  at  the  same  time  elicits  the  compressing 
power  of  the  muscles  of  the  cheek  upon  the  parotid 
gland,  which  is  situated  in  man  in  front  of  the  ear,  and 
expels  its  secreted  fluid,  the  saliva,  into  the  mouth,  to 
assist  in  comminuting  the  nutritive  matter.  Besides 
this  mechanical  action,  there  is,  however,  a  nervous 
sympathy  called  into  operation.  The  masticated  mat- 
ter acts  upon  the  tongue  and  adjacent  parts,  inducing  a 
sympathy  with  the  glands  placed  under  the  tongue,  and 
causes  them  to  pour  out  their  copious  contents.  The 
object  of  mastication  or  chewing  is,  therefore,  to  re- 
duce the  food  to  such  a  consistence  as  shall  fit  it  for  its 
reception  and  proper  digestion  in  the  stomach.  This 
is  well  illustrated  in  the  instance  of  animals  which  are 
not  supplied  with  teeth. 

The  common  fowl,  for  example,  is  destitute  of  these 
grinding  apparatus  ;  but  it  has  a  muscular  mechanism 
termed  the  gizzard,  which  powerfully  compresses  the 


20  IMPORTANCE    OF 

introduced  food,  and  by  means  of  pebbles  and  stones, 
which  are  a  necessary  article  of  food  with  the  class  of 
animals  referred  to,  an  artificial  substitute  for  the  teeth 
is  provided.  In  graminivorous  animals,  we  shall  pre- 
sently find  that  a  substitute  for  the  second  row  of  teeth 
is  provided  in  the  operation  of  rumination,  or  chewing 
the  cud.  From  attention  to  these  facts,  therefore,  we 
are  taught  that  the  preparatory  step  of  digestion  con- 
sists in  the  fine  division  of  solid  food  by  means  of  the 
apparatus  set  apart  in  the  mouth  for  this  purpose,  and 
its  mixture  with  a  certain  amount  of  fluid  saliva  to  ren- 
der it  more  dilute. 

The  importance  of  the  proper  grinding  of  the  food, 
and  of  rendering  it  as  soluble  as  possible,  can  be  well 
appreciated  by  such  individuals  as  have  been  the  sub- 
jects of  indigestion,  from  the  eructation  of  morsels  of 
food,  of  gases,  and  of  acid  liquors.  It  is  scarcely  ne- 
cessary to  remark,  that  similar  rules  are  applicable  to 
the  inferior  animals,  and  more  particularly  in  the  state 
of  confinement  to  which  most  of  them  are  more  or  less 
subjected  when  they  are  made  to  minister  to  the  wants 
of  the  human  species.  The  following  comparative 
table  exhibits  this  fact  in  a  sufficiently  striking  manner. 
Two  cows  were  fed  on  entire  barley  and  malt,  steeped 
in  hot  water  ;  they  were  then  fed  on  crushed  barley  and 
malt,  prepared  in  the  same  manner.  The  influence  of 
the  finer  division  of  the  grain  in  augmenting  the  product 
of  milk  places  the  importance  of  this  position  beyond 
all  cavil : — 


FINELY-DIVIDED    FOOD.  21 

BROWN  COW.       WHITE  COW. 


Milk  in  Periods 
of  5  Days. 

Milk  in  Periods 
of  5  Days. 

5  limbs. 

1    97} 

106  lbs. 
94 

{    96 
(    95 

98 
104 

<  105 
(  110 

1091 
109} 
110 

(    97 
I    96 
(    98 

106± 
107| 
llli 

Entire  barley  and  grass,     - 
Entire  malt  and  grass, 

Crushed  barley,  grass,  and  hay, 
Crushed  malt  and  hay, 


An  inspection  of  this  table  shows,  that  with  the  entire 
barley  the  milk  diminished  during  the  second  five  days 
of  the  experiment,  while  with  the  crushed  barley  the 
milk  had  a  tendency  to  increase  during  each  succeeding 
period.  In  all  such  experiments  there  are  continually 
occurring  irregularities,  of  which  we  have  no  means  of 
precisely  appreciating  the  causes.  These  proceed  often 
from  atmospherical  influences,  as  temperature,  and  fre- 
quently from  the  condition  of  the  animal.  We  are, 
therefore,  taking  a  legitimate  view  of  an  experiment, 
when  we  direct  our  views  to  the  tendency  to  improve- 
ment or  deterioration  in  the  course  of  the  trial,  rather 
than  to  the  actual  numbers  obtained.  In  the  preceding 
table,  the  tendency  to  an  increase  of  product  is  decidedly 
in  favor  of  the  finely  divided  grain.  There  are  some 
anomalies,  more  particularly  with  reference  to  the  brown 
cow,  which  was  rather  a  fiery  animal,  and  probably 
placed  in  peculiar  physical  conditions,  as  will  subse- 
quently be  explained. 

The  nature  of  the  saliva,  which  is  a  fluid  of  the  sim- 
plest constitution,  as  it  contains  99  J  per  cent,  of  water, 
directs  our  attention  to  the  nature  of  the  fluid  to  be  used 


22  SALIVA,    AND    NOT    ALCOHOL, 

in  quenching  thirst.  It  has  become  customary  in  towns 
to  stimulate  the  systems  of  cattle,  more  especially  of 
cows,  after  the  fashion  of  human  beings,  by  the  use  of 
alcoholic  fluids,  such  as  pot  ale,  under  the  idea  of  in- 
creasing the  amount  of  milk.  Now  as  the  stimulating 
portion  of  this  pot  ale  is  alcohol,  and  contains  no  curd, 
or,  if  so,  but  an  insignificant  portion,  it  is  evident  that 
no  increase  of  the  nutritive  constituents  of  the  milk  is 
thereby  obtained.  It  is  an  idea,  too  prevalent  with 
nurses,  that  fermented  liquors  increase  the  quantity  of 
milk  ;  but  I  am  sure  all  intelligent  physicians  will  agree 
with  me  that  this  view  should  not  be  encouraged,  either 
as  improving  the  quality  of  the  milk,  or  as  benefiting 
the  infants  supported  on  such  food.  Even  for  adults  a 
similar  advice  may  not  be  inappropriate.  A  foreigner, 
who  had  a  high  opinion  of  English  philosophy,  was  in- 
vited to  a  party  consisting  of  men  of  science.  After  a 
plenteous  dinner  the  table  was  cleared,  and  the  bottles 
were  placed  on  the  table.  Having  partaken  of  two  or 
three  glasses  of  wine,  and  being  still  pressed  to  drink, 
he  seriously  assured  the  company  that  his  thirst  was 
quenched.  The  philosophers,  however,  continued  to 
urge  him  to  follow  their  example,  and  drink,  even  al- 
though he  were  not  thirsty  ;  upon  which  the  foreigner 
rang  the  bell,  and  insisted  on  having  another  course 
brought  up,  declaring,  that  they  ought  to  eat  as  much 
against  reason,  as  he  to  drink.  The  only  advantage 
gained  can  merely  be  by  stimulating  the  system,  or  in 
supplying  a  bad  form  of  heat-producing  food  in  a  liquid 
form.  There  is  no  evidence  that  alcohol  can  supply 
any  of  the  constituents  of  the  milk  or  body.  If  the 
milk  augments  under  its  action,  a  position  requiring  to 
be  proved,  it  must  be  in  regard  to  the  aqueous  ingre- 


THE    TYPE    OF    HUMAN    DRINK.  23 

dient,  and  not  by  an  increase  of  any  of  the  solid  consti- 
tuents ;  a  consequence,  therefore,  which  would  be  more 
satisfactorily  acquired  by  the  addition  of  water  to  the 
milk  after  it  has  been  drawn  from  the  animal. 

The  saliva  would  appear  to  constitute  the  type  of 
what  the  drink  of  man  and  animals  should  be.  The 
artificial  beverages  so  much  employed  by  them  in  a 
state  of  confinement  seem  to  be  unnecessary,  if  not 
hurtful.  By  the  use  of  fluids  as  nearly  allied  to  the 
nature  of  saliva  as  possible,  we  shall,  as  far  as  we  can 
judge,  be  following  the  simple  rules  of  nature.  The 
operation  of  mastication,  or  chewing,  is  a  voluntary  art  ; 
but  the  next  step,  or  that  of  deglutition,  or  swallowing, 
is  of  a  different  character.  So  soon  as  the  food  is  suf- 
ficiently reduced  to  a  pulpy  state,  the  natural  impulse 
appears  to  be  to  carry  it,  by  the  assistance  of  the 
tongue,  to  the  back  part  of  the  mouth.  This  is  all  the 
voluntary  exertion  required  on  the  part  of  the  individual. 
The  instant  that  it  touches  certain  nerves  which  guard 
the  throat,  they  are  excited,  and  cause  the  muscles  to 
grasp  the  morsel  and  carry  it  into  the  gullet,  by  which 
it  is  conveyed,  without  any  peculiar  sensation  in  the 
healthy  condition  of  animals,  and  without  any  exercise 
of  voluntary  motion,  into  the  stomach,  the  primary  or- 
gan of  digestion. 

Much  ambiguity  has  occurred  in  physiological  wri- 
tings respecting  the  nature  of  digestion,  perhaps  as  much 
from  the  absence  of  a  proper  definition  of  the  term  as 
from  any  other  cause.  Some  writers  appear  to  consider 
the  disappearance  of  the  masticated  food  from  the  stom- 
ach as  a  proof  of  the  completion  of  the  process  of  diges- 
tion, while  others  view  digestion  as  the  formation  of  a 
pulpy  mass  in  that  organ.     Physiologists  generally  de- 


£4  DEFINITION    OF    THE    TERM    DIGESTION. 

scribe  the  pulpy  mass  in  the  stomach  under  the  name  of 
chyme,  and  that  in  the  smaller  intestines  as  chyle  ;  but 
as  these  terms  are  in  some  measure  artificial,  and 
scarcely  admissible  in  the  case  of  graminivorous  ani- 
mals, in  the  subsequent  description  of  what  is  known 
respecting  the  changes  which  the  food  undergoes  in  the 
intestines,  these  terms  will  be  omitted.  By  digestion  I 
understand  the  conversion  of  food  into  blood.  A  con- 
sideration of  this  subject  will  lead  us  to  notice  the  prin- 
cipal organs  of  digestion  in  man  and  animals,  as  well 
as  the  primary  steps  of  digestion  in  the  stomach  and 
intestines,  with  the  secondary  stage  of  digestion  in  the 
passage  of  the  food  to  the  blood-vessels,  and  the  alter- 
ation which  it  there  undergoes. 


HUMAN    ORGANS    OF    DIGESTION.  25 


CHAPTER  III. 

HUMAN    ORGANS     OF     DIGESTION. DESCRIPTION    AND    FIGURE. DIGESTION 

A    SOLUTION    IN    THE    STOMACH,    BUT     HOW    PRODUCED     IS    UNKNOWN. 

PROOFS  OF  THE  ABSENCE  OF  FREE  HYDROCHLORIC  ACID  IN  THE  STOMACH. 

ARGUMENT     FROM    THE     COMPOSITION    OF    THE    FOOD. INTOXICATION 

PRODUCED    BY    OYSTERS. ANECDOTES. DIGESTIVE  ORGANS  IN    ANIMALS 

CHEWING    THE    CUD. DESCRIPTION    AND    FIGURE. DETECTION    OF   THE 

FOOD    IN    THE     BLOOD. ENORMOUS     DRAUGHTS     OF    WATER     TAKEN     BY 

COWS. EXPLANATION     OF     THE    ACTION    OF    PURGATIVES. CONVERSION 

OF   BLOOD    INTO    CHYLE. PARALLELISM     BETWEEN     MILK,    FLOUR,    AND 

BLOOD. 

Human  Organs  of  Digestion. — The  organs  of  pri- 
mary digestion  in  man  are  all  situated  in  the  lower 
division  of  the  trunk  of  the  body,  usually  termed  the 
abdomen  or  belly,  (Fig.  1.)  They  consist  of  the 
stomach,  which  may  be  viewed  as  an  expansion  of  the 
gullet,  or  meat-pipe.  Its  form  has  been  compared  to 
that  of  a  bagpipe.  It  lies  principally  on  the  left  side, 
under  the  edge  of  the  ribs  ;  but  it  extends  towards  the 
middle  of  the  body,  and  more  particularly  after  a  meal 
its  expansion  can  be  detected.  The  upper  border  of 
the  stomach  is  curved  ;  the  hollow  of  the  curve  extend- 
ing downwards,  and  forming  what  is  designated  the 
small  curvature  or  arch  of  the  stomach.  The  lower 
border  of  this  organ  also  constitutes  an  arch,  termed  the 
greater  curvature.  The  passage  into  the  stomach  from 
the  gullet,  and  the  exit-valve  or  intestinal  or  lower  ex- 
tremity of  the  stomach  are  thus  nearly  on  a  level,  so 
that  this  organ  may  be  said  to  be  directed  across  the 

3 


26 


LARGE    AND 


body.     The  lower  opening  of  the  stomach  (pyloric  ori- 
fice) is  contracted,  being  supplied  with  a  circular  band 


Fig.  1. 


HUMAN    STOMACH    AND    INTESTINES,   (Grant.) 

1.  (Esophagus,  or  meat-pipe. 

2.  Stomach. 

3.  Small  intestines. 

4.  Termination  of  the  small  intestines  in  the  colon. 

5.  Great  arch  of  the  colon. 

6.  Straight  gut,  or  rectum. 

of  muscular  fibres,  which  constitutes  a  kind  of  valve  in 
order  to  prevent  food  from  returning  into  this  organ. 
This  point  forms  also  the  connection  with  the  intestines, 
from  whence  they  extend  in  the  form  of  a  long  tube, 
five  or  six  times  the  length  of  the  body,  and  occupy  the 
lower  part  of  the  abdomen.  The  intestines  are  usually 
divided  into  the  small  and  large  intestines.  The  former 
1  are  estimated  to  be  in  length  twenty-six  feet,  or  from 


SMALL    INTESTINES.  27 

four  to  live  times  the  length  of  the  body  ;  and  the  great 
intestines  one  length  of  the  body,  or  about  six  feet.'1 — 
{Bell.)  But  it  is  rather  remarkable  that  we  have  no 
precise  statistical  data  in  reference  to  the  proportion 
between  the  height  of  the  body  and  the  length  of  the 
intestinal  canal.  In  the  figure  the  small  intestines  oc- 
cupy the  middle  space,  and  are  surrounded  on  three 
sides  by  the  large  intestines.  The  colon,  which  com- 
mences on  the  right  side  of  the  body,  passes  upwards 
and  across  to  the  left  side,  in  the  form  of  a  great  arch  ; 
then  downwards,  until  it  terminates  in  the  rectum,  or 
straight  gut.  The  upper  portion  of  the  small  intestines 
is  termed  duodenum,  from  its  being  twelve  finger- 
breadths  in  length.  It  crosses  over  to  the  right  side  of 
the  spine,  and  descends  to  the  kidney,  from  which  it 
crosses  over  to  the  left  side  of  the  spine.  This  is  the 
largest  of  the  small  intestines,  and  it  generally  contains 
digested  matter.  The  next  portion  of  the  small  viscera, 
or  two-fifths  of  what  remains,  is  termed  the  jejunum, 
or  empty  intestine,  because  it  is  generally  void  of  con- 
tents. The  lower  portion  of  the  small  intestines  is 
termed  ilium,  and  resembles  the  empty  intestine.  Both 
of  these  are  convoluted  in  a  remarkable  manner  in  the 
cavity  of  the  belly,  and  terminate  in  the  large  intestines 
by  a  valve,  which  prevents  the  return  of  their  contents. 
The  large  intestines,  including  the  colon  and  rectum, 
or  straight  gut,  constitute  the  lower  termination  of  the 
abdominal  viscera,  and  are  destined  to  serve  as  a  store- 
house for  all  that  portion  of  the  food  which  is  of  no  use 
to  the  system,  and  which  is  usually  known  under  the 
names  of  dung  and  excrement.  The  masticated  food 
then  is  received  by  the  gullet  into  the  stomach,  and  is 
further  reduced  to  a  finer  state  of  division.     The  mode 


28  SOLUTION    OF    THE    FOOD 

in  which  this  division  or  solution  of  food  is  executed 
has  not  yet  been  satisfactorily  ascertained.  An  acid 
certainly  makes  its  appearance  in  the  stomach  when 
food  is  present,  but  whether  this  acid  takes  any  part  in 
the  digestion  or  solution  is  still  disputed.  During  the 
digestion  of  vegetable  food  in  pigs,  whose  stomachs 
bear  a  close  resemblance  to  those  of  man,  I  have  al- 
ways found  a  volatile  acid  present  in  minute  quantities, 
which  corresponded  with  the  properties  of  acetic  acid  ; 
but  it  is  the  only  acid  which  distils  over  from  the  liquor 
of  the  stomach  at  a  temperature  of  212°.  The  filtered 
liquid  of  the  stomach,  under  such  circumstances,  con- 
tains no  hydrochloric  acid,  but  an  acid  which  is  either 
lactic,  or  corresponds  very  closely  with  it.*  To  ascer- 
tain if  free  hydrochloric  acid  was  present  in  the  fluid 
contents  of  the  stomach,  after  being  distilled  for  some 
hours  till  no  more  acetic  acid  came  over,  the  residue 
was  filtered,  and  divided  into  three  equal  portions. 
1.  To  the  first  portion  a  solution  of  nitrate  of  silver  was 
added,  until  a  precipitate  ceased  to  fall ;  pure  nitric 
acid  was  then  added,  and  the  temperature  raised  to  the 
boiling  point.  The  precipitate  was  filtered,  washed,  and 
weighed.  2.  The  second  portion  was  evaporated  to 
dryness,  and  ignited  :  the  residue  was  dissolved  in 
water,  and  precipitated  by  nitrate  of  silver,  nitric  acid 
being  added,  and  the  solution  boiled.  3.  The  third  por- 
tion was  exactly  neutralized  with  caustic  potash,  evap- 
orated, and  ignited  :  the  residue  was  dissolved  in  water, 
and  precipitated  by  nitrate  of  silver.  The  results  of 
these  experiments  are  indicated  in  the  following  table 
in  grains  : — 

*  Phil.  Mag.,  April,  May,  1845.     Lancet  and  Medical  Gazette  of 
same  year. 


IN    THE    STOMACH. 


29 


Experi- 
ments. 

Weight  of  Chloride 
of  silver. 

Weight  of 
Chlorine. 

Weight  of  Hydro- 
chloric Acid. 

1 

2 
3 

7-81 
7-17 
7-97 

1-95 
1-79 
1-99 

2-00 
1-84 
2-04 

The  difference  between  the  first  and  second  experi- 
ments indicated  the  amount  of  chlorine  in  union  with 
ammonia.  In  the  third  experiment  the  potash  displaced 
the  ammonia,  and  hence  the  amount  of  chlorine  was 
the  same  in  the  first  and  third  experiments.  I  there- 
fore infer  that  no  free  hydrochloric  acid  was  present. 
Hence  it  appears  probable  that  this  acid  is  produced  at 
the  expense  of  the  sugar  or  starch  of  the  food,  and  it 
appears  doubtful  if  any  considerable  quantity  of  acid  is 
secreted,  as  is  generally  imagined,  from  the  coats  of  the 
stomach.  Corvisart  tells  us,  that  in  a  case  where  there 
was  an  aperture  in  the  stomach  the  contents  of  that  or- 
gan during  digestion  were  neutral ;  and  I  have  found 
the  contents  of  the  stomach  of  a  sheep  during  digestion 
of  grass,  and  several  hours  after  the  food  had  been  in- 
troduced, without  either  an  acid  or  alkaline  reaction. 
A  strong  argument,  however,  against  the  hydrochloric 
acid  theory  of  digestion  is  derived  from  the  circum- 
stance of  the  food  containing,  in  many  instances,  but 
an  insignificant  quantity  of  chlorides,  a  considerable 
portion  of  which  is  again  thrown  out  with  the  dung. 
Hay  made  from  rye  grass,  for  example,  contains  often 
merely  a  trace  of  chlorine,  while  in  barley,  and  other 
kinds  of  grain,  it  is  often  entirely  absent.  Now  as  it  is 
obvious  that  the  hydrochloric  acid,  if  any  were  present 
in  the  stomach,  must  be  originally  derived  from  the 
food,  the  absence  of  such  a  constituent  in  many  kinds 
of  food  renders  its  disengagement  in  a  free  state  in  the 


3* 


30  DIFFICULTY    OF    EXPLAINING 

stomach  so  much  the  less  probable.  I  regret,  there- 
fore, to  be  obliged  to  infer  that  the  commonly  received 
view  of  digestion  is  scarcely  admissible.  It  is  perhaps 
safer  to  conclude,  that  there  is  a  deficiency  of  know- 
ledge on  this  important  subject ;  and  that  not  only  do 
we  require  to  possess  a  few  facts  additional  before  we 
can  be  said  to  understand  the  process,  but  we  want  an 
entirely  new  basis  on  which  to  found  a  theory  of  diges- 
tion. It  seems  highly  probable,  from  my  own  observa- 
tions, that  the  starch  of  food  is  converted  into  sugar,  and 
that  this  again  passes  into  simpler  forms,  as  alcohol, 
perhaps,  acetic  acid,  or  lactic  acid,  by  a  kind  of  substi- 
tution so  well  explained  by  the  theory  of  Dumas,  and 
finally  into  gaseous  forms,  as  carbonic  acid  and  vapor 
of  water,  or  after  some  such  fashion  as  suggested  by 
Liebig.  The  difficulty  lies  in  explaining  how  the  al- 
bumen and  fibrin  become  dissolved,  and  are  thus  pre- 
pared to  be  taken  up  in  a  liquid  state  by  the  lacteals. 
What  has  been  described  as  fermenting  or  digesting 
principles,  under  the  names  of  pepsin,  gasterase,  &c, 
are  obviously  albumen,  &c.  modified  by  the  action  of 
solvents,  and  have  thrown  no  light  hitherto  on  the  na- 
ture of  the  solvent  power.  The  most  superficial  ob- 
server must  have  noticed  that  digestion  is  something 
more  than  a  mere  chemical  action.  Does  not  the  fam- 
ished man  feel  refreshed  after  eating,  and  does  not  the 
pulse  beat  quicker  when  food  has  been  swallowed  ? 
There  is,  therefore,  a  nervous  action  induced,  the  na- 
ture of  which  it  is  only  wise  to  admit  we  do  not  as  yet 
understand.  But  so  remarkable  is  the  influence  of 
even  simple  food  on  the  nerves,  when  abstinence  has 
been  practised  for  some  time,  that  it  may  be  interesting 


THE  SOLUTION  OF  THE  FOOD.  31 

to  quote  the  following  case,  in  which  intoxication  was 
produced  by  the  stimulus  of  oysters  alone. 

.In  the  well-known  mutiny  of  the  Bounty,  Capt.  Bligh 
was  set  adrift  in  boats  with  twenty-five  men  about  the 
end  of  April,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Friendly  Islands, 
and  was  left  to  make  his  way  to  the  coast  of  New  Hol- 
land in  such  a  precarious  conveyance.  At  the  end  of 
May  they  reached  that  coast  after  undergoing  the  great- 
est privations,  the  daily  allowance  for  each  man  having 
been  one  twenty-fifth  of  a  pound  of  bread,  a  quarter  of 
a  pint  of  water,  and  occasionally  a  teaspoonful  or  two  of 
rum.  Parties  went  on  shore,  and  returned  highly  rejoiced 
at  having  found  plenty  of  oysters  and  fresh  water.  Soon, 
however,  "  the  symptoms  of  having  eaten  too  much  be- 
gan to  frighten  some  of  us  ;  but  on  questioning  others 
who  had  taken  a  more  moderate  allowance  their  minds 
were  a  little  quieted.  The  others,  however,  became 
equally  alarmed  in  their  turn,  dreading  that  such  symp- 
toms (which  resembled  intoxication)  would  come  on, 
and  that  they  were  all  poisoned,  so  that  they  regarded 
each  other  with  the  strongest  marks  of  apprehension, 
uncertain  what  would  be  the  issue  of  their  impru- 
dence !"  Similar  observations  have  been  made  under 
other  circumstances.  Dr.  Beddoes  states  that  persons 
who  have  been  shut  up  in  a  coal-work  from  the  falling 
in  of  the  sides  of  a  pit,  and  have  had  nothing  to  eat  for 
four  or  five  days,  will  be  as  much  intoxicated  by  a  ba- 
sin of  broth,  as  an  ordinary  person  by  three  or  four 
quarts  of  strong  beer.  In  descending  the  Gharra,  a 
tributary  of  the  Indus,  Mr.  Atkinson  states  (Account  of 
Expedition  into  Affghanistan  in  1839-40,  p.  66)  that 
on  two  occasions  during  the  passage  he  witnessed  the 
intoxicating  effects  of  food.    To  induce  the  Punjaubees 


RUMINANT    ORGANS 


to  exert  themselves  a  little  more,  he  promised  them  a 
ram,  which  they  consider  a  great  delicacy,  for  a  feast, 
their  general  fare  consisting  of  rice  and  vegetables  made 
palatable  with  spices.  The  ram  was  killed,  and  they 
dined  most  luxuriously,  stuffing  themselves  as  if  they 
were  never  to  eat  again.  After  an  hour  or  two,  to  his 
great  surprise  and  amusement,  the  expression  of  their 
countenances,  their  jabbering  and  gesticulations,  showed 
clearly  that  the  feast  had  produced  the  same  effect  as 
any  intoxicating  spirit  or  drug.  The  second  treat  was 
attended  with  the  same  result.  The  introduction  of 
food,  therefore,  into  the  stomach  produces  an  influence 
or  sympathy  over  the  whole  body  which  is  worthy  of 
notice,  and  shows  us  that  we  are  too  much  disposed, 
perhaps,  to  localize  the  physiological  actions  of  the 
systems  of  animals. 

Digestive  organs  in  animals  ivhich  chew  the  cud. — 
(Ruminant  animals,  fig.  2.)  The  small  and  large  in- 
testines of  these  animals  correspond,  in  general  re- 
spects, with  those  of  the  human  subject.  The  stomach 
is,  however,  entirely  different.  Instead  of  consisting 
of  one  cavity  as  in  men,  the  stomach  of  the  sheep  and 
ox  is  divided  into  four  compartments,  which  serve  to 
reduce  the  food  to  a  finer  state,  and  render  it  more 
pulpy. 

The  food  in  these  animals  is  first  received  into  the 
paunch,  (ventriculus,)  which  occupies  a  large  space  in 
the  belly  on  the  left  side.  From  this  bag  it  passes  into 
the  second  stomach  or  honeycomb,  (reticulum  or  bon- 
net,) from  the  cell-looking  aspect  of  its  interior  struc- 
ture. There  the  food  is  formed  into  a  round  ball,  and 
is  thrown  by  the  oesophagus  into  the  mouth,  to  be  again 
chewed  while  the  animal  is  at  rest.     This  is  termed 


OF    DIGESTION. 


33 


chewing  the  cud,  and  is  a  proof  that  the  food  has  un- 

In  the  fine 


dergone  little  change  in  the  first  stomach. 


Fig.  2. 


compound  stomach  of  ruminants,  (from  Cams  and  Jones.) 

1.  (Esophagus. 

2.  The  paunch,  or  first  stomach. 

3.  The  honeycomb,  or  second  stomach. 

4.  The  manyplies,  or  third  stomach. 

5.  The  caille  or  red,  or  fourth  stomach. 

6.  The  commencement  of  the  small  intestines. 


state  of  division  in  which  it  now  is,  the  food  when 
swallowed,  "  in  consequence  of  its  stimulating  quality 
being  now  altered,  finds  the  two  valvular  folds  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  oesophagus  closed  and  shortened  by 
contraction,  and  is  directed  by  the  short  canal  they  thus 
form  into  the  third,  and  thence  into  the  fourth  cavity  of 
the  stomach,"  {Grant,  p.  41 1,*)  which  is  the  true  digest- 

*  Outlines  of  Comparative  Anatomy,  by  R.  E.  Grant,  M.  D.,  &e. 
Part  IV.  p.  410. 


34  CONVERSION    OF    FOOD    INTO 

ins  stomach,  and  is  the  one  which  is  active  when  the 
young  are  suckling.  The  anatomy  thus  far  at  least  of 
the  ruminant  animals  is  interesting  to  the  cattle  feeder, 
because  it  may  explain  the  importance  of  mixing  with 
grain  a  certain  amount  of  chopped  hay,  in  order  that 
the  whole  may  pass  into  the  first  stomach  and  have  all 
the  benefit  of  a  second  mastication ;  whereas,  if  it  is 
administered  at  once  in  a  fine  state  of  division  similar 
to  that  produced  by  chewing  the  cud,  it  may  pass  into 
the  third  stomach  at  once.  The  number  of  digesting 
operations  to  which  vegetable  food  is  thus  subjected 
exhibits  in  a  strong  point  of  view  the  difficulty  encoun- 
tered by  the  systems  of  animals  in  extracting  from  this 
description  of  aliment  the  soluble  ingredients  fitted  for 
their  support.  It  is  thus  we  find  in  man,  that  vegeta- 
ble is  longer  of  digesting  than  animal  food,  and  that 
the  American  Indians,  who  live  entirely  on  animals 
during  a  great  portion  of  the  year,  are  under  the  ne- 
cessity of  smoking  largely  the  prepared  bark  of  the 
willow  to  delay  probably  digestion,  as  the  custom  of 
smoking  has  been  plausibly  explained  by  Liebig.  There 
is  an  interesting  confirmation  of  the  fact,  if  any  were 
needed,  of  the  easier  digestibility  of  animal  than  of 
vegetable  food,  related  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Spalding, 
the  improver  of  the  diving-bell  in  the  last  century. 
He  stated  that  when  he  had  eaten  animal  food,  or  drunk 
fermented  liquors,  he  consumed  the  air  in  the  bell 
much  faster  than  when  he  lived  upon  vegetable  food 
and  drank  only  water.  Many  repeated  trials  had  so 
convinced  him  of  this,  that  he  constantly  abstained 
from  animal  diet  while  engaged  in  diving.  But  as  di- 
gestion is  not  confined  to  the  stomach  in  the  view 
which  we  have  taken  of  it,  we  find  that  in  animals 


CHYLE    OR    WHITE    BLOOD.  35 

living  on  vegetable  food  the  intestines  are  generally 
much  longer  than  in  animals  subsisting  on  animal  food. 
In  the  sheep,  for  example,  they  are  twenty-eight  times 
the  length  of  the  body,  while  in  animals  which  feed  on 
a  mixed  diet,  the  intestinal  canal,  as  in  man,  possesses  a 
medium  extent.  The  importance  of  the  length  of  this 
tube  is  at  once  apparent  for  the  digestion  of  a  diet  which 
is  with  difficulty  soluble,  if  we  consider  that  the  intesti- 
nal canal  is  believed  to  form  an  extensive  surface,  from 
which  the  digested  food  is  constantly  passing  away  by 
the  mouths  of  vessels  opening  into  it,  termed  lacteals. 
These  lacteals  are  considered  to  form  a  connection  be- 
tween the  intestines  and  the  bloodvessels,  by  which  the 
digested  food,  under  the  name  of  chyle,  is  transmitted  into 
the  current  of  the  blood.  The  chyle,  which  may  therefore 
be  considered  as  incipient  or  young  blood,  contains  simi- 
lar ingredients  to  those  which  we  find  in  the  stomach, 
viz.,  fibrin,  albumen,  sugar,  oil,  red  coloring  matter,  and 
salts.  (Prout.)  If  we  examine  the  blood  when  the  chyle 
has  been  mixed  with  it,  we  might  expect  to  find  indi- 
cations of  its  presence  in  that  fluid.  Accordingly  it 
has  been  ascertained  that  the  serum  or  watery  part  of 
the  blood,  after  partaking  of  a  meal  which  contains  any 
fatty  matter,  is  milky,  and  is  not  clear  as  is  generally 
supposed.  This  has  been  ascertained  to  be  the  case 
in  healthy  men,  and  also  in  the  inferior  animals.  For 
example,  calves  were  fed  on  gruel  and  milk,  and  after 
various  intervals  they  were  slaughtered.  The  serum 
of  the  blood  on  examination  when  the  animal  was  killed 
from  three  to  six  hours  after  the  meal  was  found  to  be 
milky,  and  to  leave  a  greasy  stain  on  filtering  paper, 
when  the  amount  of  milk  or  fatty  matter  used  was 
considerable  ;    while  the  serum  taken  from  an  animal 


36  LARGE    DRAUGHTS    OF    WATER 

which  had  been  subjected  to  starvation  for  a  space  of 
time  varying  from  twelve  to  twenty-four  hours,  present- 
ed generally  a  clear  aspect.*  Besides  the  fatty  matter 
which  had  been  used  as  food,  traces  of  albuminous 
matter  were  detected  in  the  serum  of  the  blood  when 
in  the  milky  state  ;  and  from  some  experiments  also 
it  would  appear  that  sugar,  either  derived  from  the 
starch,  or  from  the  saccharine  matter  of  the  food,  can 
be  detected  in  the  blood.  These  observations,  for  an 
opportunity  of  making  which  I  am  indebted  to  Dr.  A. 
Buchanan,  seem  to  be  corroborated  by  the  fact  stated 
by  microscopical  observers,  that  particles  distinct  from 
those  of  the  fat  can  be  detected  in  the  chyle. 

It  has  been  a  subject  of  discussion  with  physiolo- 
gists, whether  the  chyle  or  incipient  blood  is  taken  up 
in  the  small  intestines  alone,  or  if  absorption  occurs 
also  in  the  course  of  the  large  intestines.  Upon  this 
question  it  appears  that  no  small  degree  of  light  may 
be  thrown  by  a  consideration  of  some  circumstances 
in  the  feeding  of  cattle,  which  are  sufficiently  striking. 
As  cows  are  continually  feeding  during  the  whole  day, 
it  can  rarely  happen  that  the  stomach  can  be  in  any 
other  condition  than  in  that  of  engorgement,  and  yet  the 
amount  of  water  which  the  animals  will  swallow  at  a 
single  draught  is  certainly  more  than  sufficient  to  fill  the 
whole  of  the  cavities  of  the  stomach  supposing  them  to 
be  empty.  The  following  table  will  show  the  quantity 
of  water  swallowed  by  two  cows  on  different  occasions. 
The  animals  were  placed  on  the  weighing-machine,  and 
their  weight  noted.  They  were  then  allowed  to  satisfy 
their  thirst,  and  their  weight  was  again  taken. 

*  Paper  by  the  author,  Phil.  Mag.,  April  and  May,  1845. 


TAKEN    BY    COWS. 


37 


BROWN  COW. 


Food 

Weight  of  Cow. 

Water 
Swallow- 
ed. 

12  Aug. 

19  — 
29  — 
4  Sept. 

Barley,  molasses,  } 
and  hay,                J 

Malt  and  hay 

Ditto    - 

Barley,  linseed,  ) 
and  hay,                } 

Before 
Drinking. 

After 
Drinking. 

lbs. 

1010 

9981 
1023^ 

991 

lbs. 
1038 

1041 

10481 

1055 

lbs. 

28 

421 
25" 

63 

WHITE  COW. 


Food. 

Weight  of  Cow. 

Water 
Swallow- 
ed. 

12  Aug. 

26  — 
4  Sept. 

13  — 

Barley,  molasses,  ) 
and  hay,                $ 

Malt  and  hay 

Barley,  linseed,  ) 
and  hay,                £ 

Beans  and  hay 

Before 
Drinking. 

After 
Drinking. 

lbs. 

1052 

1028 

1056 

1060 

lbs. 
1106 
1051 
1104 

1087 

lbs. 
54 
•23 

48 

27 

In  the  fourth  experiment  with  the  brown  cow,  it  will 
be  observed  that  the  animal  swallowed  at  one  draught 
sixty-three  pounds  weight  of  water.  As  the  water  was 
derived  from  the  Clyde,  and  contained  but  a  small 
amount  of  inorganic  matter,  we  shall  be  very  near  the 
truth  if  we  admit  that  the  cow,  on  this  occasion,  swal- 
lowed six  gallons  of  water  without  taking  a  breath. 
Now  it  is  obvious  that  in  these  trials  the  water  must 
have  passed  through  the  stomach  into  the  intestines. 
On  mentioning  these  facts  to  Sir  Benjamin  Brodie,  to 
whose  opinion  in  such  experiments  I  most  willingly  de- 

4 


38  USE    OF    THE    COLON. 

fer,  he  informed  me  that  he  had  found  the  water  taken 
by  small  animals,  when  they  were  killed  soon  after 
swallowing  it,  to  be  lodged  in  the  colon  or  large  intes- 
tine. A  similar  observation  has  been  made  by  Mr. 
Coleman,  of  the  Veterinary  College,  in  reference  to  the 
horse. — [Bell.)  From  which  it  has  been  inferred,  that 
"  the  aliment  is  deposited  liquid  in  the  right  colon  ;  that 
in  arriving  in  the  rectum  or  straight  gut,  it  is  deprived 
of  fluid,  and  that  the  lymphatics  of  the  great  intestine 
are  found  distended  with  a  limpid  fluid.  From  such 
views  the  idea  has  been  entertained  that  a  very  princi- 
pal office  of  the  great  intestines  was  to  imbibe  the  fluid 
from  their  contents  in  proportion  to  the  wants  of  the 
system." — {Bell.)  It  is  not  to  be  inferred,  however, 
from  the  fact,  that  when  the  dung  presents  a  less  con- 
sistent aspect,  it  contains  a  much  larger  quantity  of 
water.  In  the  case  of  cows  fed  on  grass,  when  the 
dung  was  thin  and  liquid,  the  percentage  of  solid  matter 
was  1T27;  while  when  they  were  feeding  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  on  grain,  and  when  the  dung  was  very 
consistent,  the  amount  of  solid  matter  varied  from  13 
to  14^  per  cent.,  affording  evidence  certainly  of  a  greater 
quantity  of  water  in  the  first  instance  than  in  the  sec- 
ond, but  not  so  considerable  as  might  be  expected  from 
the  external  appearance  of  the  substances. 

If  the  view  of  Bell  be  correct,  and  it  seems  a  very 
plausible  opinion,  the  colon  would  appear  to  act  the 
same  office  as  the  paunch  and  second  stomach  of  the 
camel,  dromedary,  and  llama,  in  which  animals  there 
are  large  cells  in  those  portions  of  the  stomach  for  the 
retention  of  water,  which  is  thus  supplied  to  the  sys- 
tems of  the  animals  according  to  the  exigencies  of  their 
case.     Since  the  experiments  which  I  have  detailed 


USE    OF    THE    COLON.  39 

appear  to  warrant  the  conclusion,  that  the  water  swal- 
lowed by  the  cows  was  conveyed  into  the  colon,  it  is 
obvious  that  this  water,  in  its  passage  through  the 
stomach,  must  carry  with  it  much  soluble  matter,  es- 
pecially of  a  saline  nature,  which  may  be  absorbed 
through  the  coats  of  the  great  intestine,  or  thrown  out 
with  the  excrementitious  matter  contained  in  the  gut. 
It  is  in  this  way  I  am  inclined  to  account  for  the  con- 
siderable quantities  of  common  salt  and  alkaline  phos- 
phates which  I  have  met  with  in  repeated  analyses  of 
the  dung  of  cows  fed  on  grass,  hay,  and  grain.  The 
amount  of  inorganic  matter  in  cow-dung  varies  from 
10  to  13  per  1000  parts;  and  in  the  latter  case,  the 
quantity  of  soluble  salts,  consisting  of  chlorides  and 
phosphates,  averaged  as  much  as  1{  per  1000  parts. 
The  presence  of  these  salts  was  quite  unequivocal,  as 
on  burning  the  dung  and  digesting  the  residue  in  water 
the  common  salt  was  easily  obtained  in  characteristic 
cubical  crystals  by  concentration.  The  fact  of  the 
colon  serving  as  a  kind  of  reservoir  for  the  large  quan- 
tities of  fluid  carried  into  the  intestinal  canal,  may 
serve  also  to  explain  the  mode  of  action  of  saline  pur- 
gatives. It  would  appear  that,  when  dissolved  in  large 
quantities  of  water,  they  are  carried  at  once  to  the  co- 
lon, where  they  act  by  stimulating  the  intestine,  in- 
creasing the  peristaltic  motion,  and  thus  encouraging  a 
more  intimate  mixture  of  the  aqueous  and  solid  con- 
tents of  the  gut,  communicating  the  same  liquid  condi- 
tion of  the  contents  of  this  intestine  to  those  of  the 
rectum,  which  are  usually  quite  free  from  water,  and 
thus  contributing  to  their  easy  evacuation.  Liebig  has 
endeavored  to  account  for  the  action  of  saline  purga- 
tives by  the  power  which  they  possess  of  extracting 


40  ACTION    OF 

water  from  the  tissues,  in  the  same  way  that  common 
salt  extracts  water  from  meat  and  forms  brine.  To  a 
certain  extent  this  explanation  is  satisfactory ;  but  it  is 
obvious  it  cannot  extend  to  the  action  of  powders,  such 
as  jalap,  &c,  and  accordingly  Liebig  restricts  his  view 
to  saline  purgatives.  But  if,  as  Sir  Charles  Bell  be- 
lieves, there  is  always  a  quantity  of  water  in  the  colon, 
we  can  more  readily  understand  how  such  vegetable 
powders  can  act,  and  that  their  agency  would  be  as- 
sisted by  the  use  of  diluents  which  will  be  carried 
down  to  the  rectum  and  be  intermixed  with  its  con- 
tents. The  erect  posture,  if  this  view  is  correct,  will 
be  the  most  proper  to  assume  after  the  administration 
of  medicine,  in  order  that  the  abundant  draught  of  fluid 
may  be  carried  rapidly  by  gravity  to  the  lower  extrem- 
ity of  the  intestinal  canal.  This  explanation  of  the 
action  of  purgatives,  it  will  be  observed,  assimilates 
them  to  clysters,  with  this  difference,  that  a  purgative 
may  act  more  or  less  from  the  stomach  downwards, 
while  the  influence  of  a  clyster  is  generally  restricted 
to  the  rectum  and  colon.  From  this  view  we  may  also 
infer,  that,  in  cases  where  the  bowels  obstinately  resist 
the  action  of  purgatives,  and  it  is  considered  advisable 
to  administer  a  clyster,  the  action  of  the  latter  will  be 
facilitated  by  the  free  use  of  tepid  water  introduced  by 
the  mouth.  It  may  be  further  inferred  from  this  view, 
that  a  preference  should  be  given  to  saline  purgatives 
over  those  of  a  vegetable  nature,  since,  being  soluble, 
they  are  at  once  carried  to  the  large  intestines,  their 
proper  sphere  of  action ;  and,  contrary  to  the  frequent 
assertion,  they  are  just  as  natural  to  the  system  as 
those  of  a  vegetable  nature,  since  all  wholesome  food 
contains   saline   ingredients.     This  view  is,   in   some 


PURGATIVE    MEDICINES.  41 

measure,  opposed  to  the  employment  of  medicines  in 
the  state  of  pills,  and  would  appear  to  dictate  the  pro- 
priety of  administering  aperients -in  the  form  of  solu- 
tion whenever  it  can  be  practised  with  propriety.  This 
observation  it  is  not  intended,  however,  should  be  con- 
strued into  a  recommendation  of  the  use  of  purgatives  ; 
on  the  contrary,  we  believe  them  to  be  much  too  fre- 
quently employed,  and  that  a  more  intimate  study  of  the 
process  of  digestion  will  convince  both  medical  men  and 
patients,  that  the  primary  object  of  attention  is  the  na- 
ture of  the  food  employed,  and  the  due  consideration 
of  its  adaptation  to  the  particular  circumstances  in 
which  an  individual  is  placed.  The  nature  of  the  ac- 
tion of  purgatives  now  supported  may  be  stated  in  a 
few  words.  The  colon  in  a  natural  state  contains  wa- 
ter ;  the  rectum  contains  only  dry  faeces  :  a  purgative 
increases  the  action  of  the  colon,  intermixes  the  water 
and  contents  more  intimately,  propels  these  liquid  mat- 
ters into  the  rectum,  occasions  also  a  similar  action  to 
that  induced  in  the  colon,  and  finally,  enables  the 
whole  contents  to  pass  away  with  facility.  This  view 
is,  in  some  measure,  borne  out  by  the  fact  of  such  suc- 
culent food  as  grass,  which  contains  from  f  to  §  its 
weight  of  water,  acting  as  an  habitual  aperient. 

Purgatives  are  usually  employed  to  remove,  as  the 
phrase  goes,  irritating  matter  from  the  intestines.  Now, 
as  the  only  foreign  substance  of  any  consequence,  in 
addition  to  the  food,  thrown  into  the  intestines,  is  the 
bile,  it  becomes  an  important  object  to  determine  upon 
what  the  physician  is  acting  when  he  administers  a 
purgative.  The  question,  Where  are  the  irritating  ma- 
terials lodged  ?  demands  first  a  solution.  If  in  the 
colon,  then  why  should  the  whole  length  of  the  intes- 

4* 


42 


IDENTITY    OF    MILK, 


tinal  canal  be  subjected  to  the  stimulating  action  of  a 
purgative,  since  the  end  can  be  more  easily  attained  by- 
throwing  a  clyster  into  the  large  gut?     The  second 
question  is,  Does  the  bile  cause  the  irritation  ?     And, 
third,   Does  not  the  food  occasion  the  derangement? 
So  little  are  we  prepared  to  answer  these  questions, 
that  we  do  not  even  as  yet  know  the  function  or  desti- 
nation of  the  bile.     But  there  can  be  little  hW'tation 
in  affirming,  that  the  use  of  purgatives  is  carried  much 
too  far  in  this  country,  especially  mercurials,  a  class 
of  the  most  dangerous  poisons.     The  primary  object 
of  the  introduction  of  food  into  the  stomach  and  intes- 
tinal canal  is  to  produce  blood  :  in  order  that  the  latter 
may  be  of  a  healthy  description,  it  is  requisite  that  the 
food  should  contain  the  ingredients  necessary  for  the 
production  of  blood,  and  that  these  should  be  in  a  state 
of  integrity  and  health.     It  is  scarcely  to  be  wondered 
at  that  the  consumption  of  putrid  food,  such  as  high- 
flavored  game,  and  large  quantities  of  decayed  cheese, 
should  be  incapable  of  producing   healthy  blood  ;    or 
rather,  that  the  blood  produced  from  substances  in  such 
a  state  of  putrefaction  should  be  liable  to  disease  of 
the  most  dangerous  and  deadly  nature.     One  of  the 
first  considerations,  then,  in  forming  an  opinion  of  the 
adequacy  of  food  to  produce  healthy  blood,  is  to  com- 
pare its  constituents  with  those   of  the   blood.     The 
true  type  of  all  food,  as  has  been  well  demonstrated 
by  Dr.  Prout,  is  the  milk  which  nature  has  provided  so 
carefully  for  the  use  of  sucking  animals :  in  it  we  may 
expect  to  find  all  the  substances  requisite  for  the  pro- 
duction of  healthy  blood.     The  following  table  affords, 
in  parallel  columns,  a  view  of  the  ingredients  entering 
into  the  composition  of  milk,  wheat  flour,  and  blood. 


FLOUR, 

AND    BLOOD. 

43 

Milk. 

Flour. 

Blood. 

r  Fibrin. 

"Fibrin. 

Albumen.           , 

Albumen. 

Curd  or  Casein.                  •< 

Casein. 

Casein. 

LGlutin. 

Coloring  Matter. 

Butter. 

Oil. 

Fat. 

Sugar. 

Sugar,  starch. 

Sugar? 

Chloride  of  potassium. 

Chloride  of  sodium. 

Phosphate  of  soda. 

>•  Ditto. 

>  Ditto. 

Phosphate  of  lime. 

Phosphate  of  magnesia. 

Phosphate  of  iron. 

From  this  table,  therefore,  we  learn  that  the  curd  of 
milk  is  capable  of  undergoing  certain  modifications, 
which  exhibit  themselves  under  four  forms  in  the 
blood.  The  coloring  matter,  too,  of  the  blood  is  ab- 
sent from  the  milk  ;  but  the  latter  contains  iron,  which 
:is  connected  with  the  coloring  matter  of  the  blood  in 
some  way  not  yet  understood  :  and  it  was  the  opinion 
of  Chaptal,  and  of  others  since  his  time,  that  the  florid 
color  of  the  blood  was  occasioned  by  the  action  of  the 
oxygen  of  the  atmospheric  air  upon  the  iron  of  the 
blood.  But  the  experiments  of  Dr.  Prout,  who  found 
a  trace  of  coloring  matter  in  the  chyle,  that  is,  in  blood 
before  it  has  been  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  oxygen 
of  the  atmosphere,  would  appear  to  militate  against 
this  plausible  view  of  the  cause  of  the  florid  color  of 
the  blood  ;  and  yet  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  the  suspi- 
cion that  further  inquiry,  and  a  more  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  the  process  of  respiration,  will  connect,  in 
some  manner  or  other,  the  iron  which  exists  in  no 
other  part  of  animals  but  the  blood  with  the  function 
of  the  oxidation  of  the  systems  of  animals.  But  be- 
sides the  necessity  for  the  presence  of  the  same  mate- 
vials  in  the  food  which  exist  in  the  blood,  it  is  requisite 


44  MILK    AND    BLOOD. 

that  each  should  bear  a  certain  relation  to  the  whole, 
as  will  be  attempted  to  be  pointed  out  in  the  subse- 
quent part  of  the  work,  during  the  discussion  of  the 
effects  of  the  different  kinds  of  diet  employed  in  the 
extensive  series  of  experiments  to  be  detailed.  The 
previous  observations  have  shown  the  parallel  nature 
of  milk  and  blood.  To  make  good  milk,  therefore,  is 
obviously  producing  a  similar  effect  to  that  of  forming 
good  blood,  and  consequently  contributing  to  build  up 
the  body  of  animals  in  a  healthy  and  substantial  man- 
ner. Again,  as  the  blood  of  cows  is  identical  in  com- 
position with  that  of  the  human  species,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  diet  of  the  one  class  of  animals  must  possess 
a  similar  composition  to  that  of  the  other.  It  is  im- 
portant, as  a  preliminary  step,  to  consider  briefly  the 
nature  of  the  animals  upon  which  the  experiments  for 
determining  the  influence  of  different  kinds  of  food  as 
diet  were  made. 


DESCRIPTION    OF    COWS.  45 


CHAPTER  IV. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COWS. 

DESCRIPTION    OF    BROWN     AND     WHITE     COW. INFLUENCE    OF    SYMMETRY 

UPON    THE    AMOUNT    OF    MILK. THE    HEALTH    OF    AN    ANIMAL    DEPENDS 

ON  THE  PROPER  RELATION  OF  ITS  ORGANS. DIFFERENCE  OF  CONSTI- 
TUTION OF  ANIMALS  DEPENDS  ON  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM. FAT  ANI- 
MALS   OFTEN    TO    BE    CONSIDERED    AS    IN    A    STATE    OF    DISEASE. 

When  experiments  are  made  upon  a  limited  scale  it 
is  essential  that  the  principal  elements  in  the  investi- 
gation should  be  carefully  selected.  Greater  accuracy 
would  be  undoubtedly  attained  by  experimenting  upon 
a  very  large  number  of  animals  at  the  same  time,  pro- 
vided that  the  execution  could  be  effected  with  equal 
facility  ;  but  when  the  subsequent  tables  are  examined, 
it  will  be  at  once  evident  that  the  labor,  and  consequent 
liability  to  error,  attendant  upon  such  researches  when 
made  in  a  more  extensive  form,  would  more  than  coun- 
terbalance any  objections  to  a  more  limited  scale  of 
inquiry.  In  undertaking  this  series  of  experiments  it 
was  requisite  to  choose  cows  which  should  produce 
average  results.  The  selection  was  intrusted  to  a  very 
extensive  agriculturist,  (possessing  a  large  herd  of  milk 
cows,)  who  was  made  acquainted  with  the  object  in 
view ;  and,  from  the  results  obtained,  it  appears  that 
the  choice  was  well  made  ;  and  that,  so  far  as  the  ani- 
mals are  concerned,  there  is  probably  nothing  objec- 
tionable  in  the   experiments.     One   of  these  animals 


40  DESCRIPTION    OF    COWS. 

was  white  or  speckled,  and  the  other  was  brown,  and 
they  answered  to  the  following  characters  : — 

White  or  speckled  Cow. — This  was  a  handsome 
cow  of  the  Ayrshire  breed,  possessing  a  face  of  no 
great  length,  but  of  considerable  breadth.  The  horns 
were  curved  inwards  and  forwards,  and  their  tips  turned 
slightly  upwards.  The  neck  was  covered  with  patches 
of  a  brown  color,  and  the  rest  of  the  body  thinly  spot- 
ted in  the  same  manner.  The  spine  formed  a  remark- 
ably continuous  horizontal  line,  unbroken  by  any  de- 
pression. The  chest  was  not  characterized  by  a  more 
than  usual  wedge-like  form,  although  when  viewed 
from  behind,  in  connection  with  an  expanded  belly  and 
short  legs,  this  feature  was  to  a  certain  extent  observa- 
ble. She  therefore  possessed  undoubtedly  an  impor- 
tant element  in  a  good  milk  cow,  viz.,  large  intestines 
and  comparatively  small  lungs.  This  cow  was  five  or 
six  weeks  calved,  and  had  seen  the  bull  a  fortnight 
previous  to  the  commencement  of  the  experiments. 
The  quantity  of  milk  which  she  gave  when  at  pasture, 
it  was  stated,  was  ten  quarts,  or  about  25  lbs.  12  oz. 
imperial  weight.  This  amount  was  never,  however, 
reached  during  the  whole  course  of  the  experiments, 
except  upon  one  occasion.  This  animal  was  remark- 
ably quiet ;  her  age  was  between  five  and  six  years, 
and  her  weight,  a  fortnight  after  her  arrival,  994  lbs. 

Brown  Cow. — This  cow  was  considerably  inferior 
in  size  to  the  preceding,  and  by  no  means  endowed 
with  a  figure  so  pleasing  to  the  eye  of  the  connoisseur. 
Her  horns  protruded  more.  The  spine  was  not  straight, 
but  was  characterized  by  a  decided  dorsal  depression, 
a  mark  of  inferiority  in  an  Ayrshire  cow.  Her  color 
was  brown,   varied  with  a  few  white  patches.     Her 


INFLUENCE    OF    SHAPE    IN    A    COW.  47 

belly  did  not  protrude  to  such  a  degree  as  that  of  the 
white  cow,  and  her  lungs  were  in  consequence  larger 
in  proportion.  The  quantity  of  milk  which  she  gave 
at  pasture  is  stated  to  have  varied  from  nine  to  ten 
imperial  quarts,  a  quantity  which  she  much  exceeded 
immediately  after  her  arrival,  but  which  gradually  di- 
minished and  remained  tolerably  stationary  till  the 
close  of  the  investigation.  This  cow  had  seen  the 
bull  two  days  before  her  arrival,  but  probably  without 
the  requisite  effect,  as  she  displayed  occasionally  con- 
siderable irritability,  wildness  of  eye,  and  other  well- 
known  symptoms.  The  quantity  of  milk  which  she 
gave  was  generally  less  than  that  yielded  by  the  white 
cow,  but  the  amount  of  butter  was  greater.  Her 
weight,  a  fortnight  after  her  arrival,  was  967^  lbs.,  and 
her  age  was  about  five  years.  She  had  calved  five  or 
six  weeks. 

It  is  not  necessary,  for  the  sake  of  elucidating  the 
experiments,  to  discuss  the  much  controverted  points 
among  agriculturists  in  reference  to  the  form  of  cow 
best  calculated  for  the  purposes  of  the  dairy,  since 
practical  judges  differ  as  to  the  proper  characters,  and 
have  too  frequently  fixed  upon  anatomical  features  as 
indicative  of  a  good  milk  cow  which  are  not  necessa- 
rily so  in  a  physiological  point  of  view.  No  stronger 
proof  could  be  adduced  in  support  of  this  statement 
than  the  fact  that  the  characters  of  a  good  milk  cow 
of  the  short-horn  breed  are  in  many  respects  the  re- 
verse of  those  exhibited  by  the  Ayrshire  cow.  The 
external  symmetry  of  an  animal  must,  in  some  meas- 
ure, be  viewed  apart  from  its  capacity  to  discharge  a 
physiological  function.  It  would  be  incorrect  to  judge 
of  the  capability  of  a  man  to  undergo  fatigue  by  the 


48  INFLUENCE    OF    THE    RESPIRATORY 

contour  of  his  countenance,  spine,  and  limbs  alone,  al- 
though their  peculiar  conformation  might  afford  acces- 
sory proofs  of  power.  Recent  experiments,  in  accord- 
ance with  scientific  views,  would  tend  to  show  that 
strength  or  endurance  of  fatigue  will  depend  more  upon 
the  relation  of  one  important  division  of  the  system  to 
another,  as  of  the  organs  of  respiration,  for  example, 
to  the  stature  or  muscular  development,  than  upon  the 
general  corporeal  symmetry.  A  man  of  six  feet  and 
upwards  may  appear  well  proportioned  to  the  eye,  and 
yet  experiment  has  shown  that  an  inferior  stature  af- 
fords, on  an  average,  greater  muscular  power,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  better  ratio  subsisting  between  the 
important  organs  which  are  necessary  to  the  exercise 
of  strength.  This  is  at  once  obvious,  if  we  bear  in 
mind  that  the  principal  source  of  animal  power  is  res- 
piration, or  that  function  by  which  certain  portions  of 
the  digested  food  are  converted  into  carbonic  acid, 
acetic  acid  (?)  and  water ;  including,  therefore,  not 
only  the  lungs,  but  also  the  whole  capillary  system  of 
the  skin.*  A  short-winded  person,  or  one  whose  res- 
piratory organs  are  defective,  is  at  once  inferior  in  the 
capacity  to  undergo  fatigue  to  another  whose  lungs  are 
in  a  state  of  integrity  ;  and  this  is  the  result,  not  merely 
because  the  lungs  are  somewhat  diseased,  but  because, 
the  exciting  cause  of  all  animal  motion  being  depen- 
dent on  the  function  of  respiration, — that  is,  the  con- 
version  of  carbon   and   hydrogen   in   the   system   into 

*  These  views  are  strongly  supported  by  the  very  ingenious  expsr-- 
ments  of  Mr.  Hutchinson,  whose  researches  on  respiration  constitute  % 
valuable  contribution  to  physiology.  See  Journal  of  Statistical  So- 
ciety, June,  1844.  Trans,  of  Med.  Chirurg.  Society  of  London,  May, 
1846. 


AND    NERVOUS    SYSTEMS.  49 

carbonic  acid  and  water, — it  is  requisite  that  the  oxy- 
gen of  the  atmosphere  should  have  access  to  a  certain 
amount  of  blood-surface  to  produce  a  given  effect. 
When  any  obstacle  occurs  to  mar  this  operation, — for 
example,  in  consequence  of  disease  of  a  portion  of  the 
lungs,  or  of  the  influence  of  a  cause  operating  upon 
the  whole  constitution, — the  inevitable  result  is  a  de- 
terioration of  muscular  power.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
multiply  examples  in  proof  of  the  co-existence  of  mus- 
cular power  and  capacity  of  lung,  since  a  broad  chest 
is  generally  accepted  as  an  element  of  strength.  The 
relation  between  the  muscles,  or  flesh,  and  the  lungs 
being  understood,  it  will  be  more  easy  to  appreciate 
the  connection  between  the  intestines  and  the  lungs. 
The  intestines  are  the  reservoir  in  which  the  food  is 
placed  for  the  purpose  of  being  absorbed  into  the  blood. 
The  rapidity  with  which  the  dissolved  or  digested  mat- 
ter is  taken  up  must,  it  is  obvious,  depend  upon  the 
rate  at  which  the  vessels  destined  for  this  purpose  act; 
these  being  set  in  motion  by  the  heart,  this  again  by 
the  nervous  system,  and  the  latter  by  respiration,  there 
is  discernible  a  beautiful  chain  of  connection  between 
the  oxygen  of  the  atmosphere  and  the  absorbed  food. 
If  the  system  described  were  always  in  equable  move- 
ment, if  no  influences  were  occasionally  present  to  in- 
terfere with  its  proper  equilibrium,  animals  would  be 
in  the  condition  of  plants,  which  possess  absorbing  ap- 
paratus, but  are  destitute  of  one  powerful  interfering 
agent  in  the  animal  economy;  this  is  the  brain  and 
nervous  system,  upon  the  condition  of  which  depend 
passions  and  emotions  of  the  mind.  It  is  principally 
by  the  study  of  this  important  apparatus  that  we  de- 
rive our  knowledge  of  what  is  peculiarly  termed  the 


50  NATURE    OF    FATNESS. 

constitution  of  animals.  Without  this  system  animals 
would  be  merely  chemical  machines,  and  we  might 
then  predicate,  in  every  case,  the  effects  of  particular 
influences,  as  one  animal  would  then  differ  from  anoth- 
er merely  in  the  extent  of  its  mechanism.  The  intes- 
tinal canal  may  then  be  considered  as  an  extensive 
absorbing  surface,  which  is  retained  in  equilibrio  by  a 
properly-balanced  exhaling  surface,  the  lungs  and  skin. 
If  there  were  no  nerves,  this  equilibrium  would  spon- 
taneously proceed,  and  every  part  of  the  animal  sys- 
tem would  be  duly  supplied  with  its  proper  amount  of 
support.  But  to  stimulate  the  nervous  system  we  em- 
ploy exciting  substances,  such  as  alcohol  and  spices, 
&c,  which  increase  the  rapidity  of  absorption  without 
a  corresponding  provision  being  made  for  the  proper 
exhalation  of  the  excess  of  food  thus  introduced  into 
the  system.  The  consequence  must  be  the  deposition 
of  fat,  a  condition  of  the  system  which  is  ranked  in 
the  human  subject  as  a  disease,  (Polysarcia  adiposa*) 
The  same  result  occurs  with  the  inferior  animals  if  we 
force  more  food  into  their  systems  than  can  be  in  some 
degree  proportionally  exhaled.  The  deposition  of  fat 
ensues,  and  when  it  is  carried  to  the  extent  too  cus- 
tomary among  agriculturists,  it  assumes  the  form  of  a 
disease  :  when  cattle  are  fed  for  the  purpose  of  serving 
as  human  food,  there  ought  not  to  be  such  a  super- 
abundance of  fatty  matter  deposited  as  is  usual  with 
some  of  the  animal  monsters  designated  fat  cattle. 
When  they  are  properly  fed,  with  a  due  attention  to 
allowing  them  a  certain  amount  of  exercise,  the  fat  and 


*  In  the  language  of  Lord  Byron,  "  fat  is  an  oily  dropsy." — Reject 
ed  Addresses,  p.  19. 


DESCRIPTION    OF    COWS.  51 

lean  are  deposited  in  healthy  proportions,  and  the  cattle 
may  be  employed  without  risk  as  human  food.  Pas- 
sions or  mental  influences  must  necessarily  produce  a 
decided  effect  upon  the  absorptive  action  of  the  intes- 
tinal canal,  and  may  cause  a  diminished  amount  of  nu- 
triment to  be  absorbed  :  in  this  case  the  products  of 
the  animal,  such  as  the  milk  of  the  cow,  must  neces- 
sarily be  diminished.  This  remark  is  to  be  kept  in 
view  in  considering  the  subsequent  experiments.  The 
cows  were  very  different  in  reference  to  their  nervous 
condition.  The  white  cow  was  quiet  and  steady,  gen- 
erally eating  equal  portions  and  producing  equable 
quantities  of  milk.  The  brown  cow,  on  the  contrary, 
was  fitful  in  her  appetite,  and  of  consequence  was  va- 
riable in  the  amount  of  products.  In  proportion  to  her 
weight  she  consumed  a  larger  amount  of  food  than  her 
fellow,  but  always  afforded  less  milk  and  a  greater 
amount  of  butter.  The  variable  action  of  her  organs 
is  well  exhibited  in  the  first  series  of  tables.  When  at 
pasture  she  had  given  two  pints  less  than  the  white 
cow,  and  immediately  before  the  experiments  she  gave 
the  same  quantity  as  her  fellow.  On  her  arrival  in 
Glasgow  her  milk  greatly  increased  ;  but  it  soon  be- 
gan to  diminish,  although  the  same  amount  of  food 
was  continued.  That  the  change  was  not  produced  by 
any  alteration  in  the  food  is  obvious  from  the  steadier 
result  afforded  by  the  white  cow,  which  was  also  sup- 
plied with  an  equal  weight  of  fodder.  The  amount  of 
milk  given  by  the  brown  cow  was  as  much  as  26  lbs. 
per  day  when  she  was  fed  with  grass,  and  upon  the 
same  kind  of  food  the  quantity  declined  to  22  lbs.  ; 
while  the  milk  produced  by  the  white  cow  was,  at 
the  commencement  of  the  experiment  with  grass,  23 


o2  INFLUENCE    OF 

lbs.,  and  at  the  termination  of  the  trial,  21  lbs. ;  so 
that  there  was  a  falling  off,  in  the  case  of  the  brown 
cow,  to  the  extent  of  4  lbs.,  and  with  the  white  cow 
only  to  the  amount  of  2  lbs.  That  this  result  was  not 
merely  owing  to  a  deficiency  of  water  was  proved  by 
experiment,  which  gave  the  same  amount  of  water  in 
the  milk  of  both  cows  ;  but  the  quantity  of  butter  af- 
forded by  the  brown  cow  amounted  to  11|  lbs.,  while 
that  of  the  white  cow  was  8|-  lbs.,  in  fourteen  days, 
from  1,427  lbs.  of  grass  supplied  to  each  animal 
Again,  when  the  animals  were  fed  on  steeped  entire 
barley,  the  brown  cow's  milk  fell  from  22|-  lbs.  to  17| 
lbs.,  while  that  of  the  white  cow  only  declined  from 
22  lbs.  to  19J  lbs.;  the  brown  cow  falling  off  to  the 
extent  of  5  lbs.,  and  the  white  only  to  the  extent  of 
2|  lbs.  These  facts  are  sufficient  to  show  that  the 
two  animals  were  constitutionally  different.  The  oc- 
casional  wild  look  of  the  brown  cow,  her  tendency  to 
gore  those  who  approached  her,  her  frequent  startled 
aspect,  all  indicated  a  nervous  state  of  excitement ;  the 
probable  cause  of  which  has  been  already  alluded  to. 
The  result  of  these  experiments  seems  to  countenance 
the  idea,  that,  although  a  handsome  external  figure  is 
not  necessarily  an  indication  of  the  highest  capacity  in 
a  cow  to  produce  milk  and  butter,  yet  that  it  may  con- 
duce to  afford  a  steady  supply  of  milk,  inasmuch  as  it 
appears  to  indicate  a  proper  relation  between  the  or- 
gans. 

Color  of  Cattle. — It  has  been  supposed  by  some 
practical  persons  that  the  color  of  an  animal  exercised 
some  influence  on  the  amount  of  milk  produced.  The 
determination  of  this  point  could  only  be  decided  by 
experiments  upon  different  breeds  of  cattle  ;  but  it  is 


COLOR    OF    CATTLE.  53 

probable  that  color  is  not  an  important  element  in  this 
inquiry,  any  further  than  that  the  same  parents  being 
good  milkers  may  originate  a  stock  of  similar  charac- 
ter, both  in  color  and  in  functions,  to  themselves  ;  and 
hence  a  particular  color  co-existing  with  good  milking 
capacity  would  rather  be  an  accidental  than  a  physio- 
logical circumstance.  The  subject  is  one,  however, 
open  for  inquiry,  and  is  alluded  to  here  because  it  is  a 
favorite  idea  with  some  good  practical  observers. 

In  the  experiments  to  be  detailed,  if  is  proper  to 
state  that  the  milk  was  carefully  weighed  and  also 
measured  morning  and  evening;  the  numbers  con- 
tained in  the  series  of  tables  are  therefore  the  exact 
results  of  experiments.  The  weight  of  grain  may  be 
taken  as  representing  the  exact  chemical  quantities, 
while  the  amount  of  hay  being  only  given  in  quarter 
pounds  might  be  received  as  the  practical  quantities, 
and  not  as  the  precise  chemical  numbers.  The  dung 
was  also  carefully  weighed  morning  and  evening,  and 
its  solid  and  liquid  contents  estimated  by  frequent  des- 
iccations. The  butter  was  extracted  from  the  whole 
of  the  milk.  The  morning's  milk  was  allowed  to 
stand  for  twenty-four  to  thirty-six  hours,  and  was  then 
creamed  ;  the  cream  being  placed  in  the  churn,  to- 
gether with  the  whole  of  the  evening's  milk.  The 
weights  and  measures  used  are  all  Imperial. 

5* 


54  EFFECT  OF  GRASS  AS  FOOD 


CHAPTER  V. 

INFLUENCE    OF    GRASS    WHEN    USED    AS    DIET. 

TABLES    OF    MILK    AND    BUTTER     PRODUCED    BY    GRASS    DURING    FOURTEEN 

DAYS. COMPOSITION     OF    THE    MILK. AMOUNT    OF    FOOD    CONSUMED. 

OF   THE    SOURCE    OF    THE     BUTTER     IN     THE    GRASS. AMOUNT    OF    WAX 

IN    THE    FOOD. COMPOSITION   OF   BUTTER. MODE    OF   PRESERVING  BUT- 
TER  FRESH  FOR   ANY   LENGTH  OF  TIME. IMPROBABILITY  OF  WAX   BEING 

CONVERTED    INTO    BUTTER. ON    THE     NATURE     OF    GRASS    AND    HAY    AS 

FOOD. ANALYSIS     OF     HAY. GRASS     LOSES     NUTRITIVE    MATTER    WHEN 

CONVERTED    INTO    HAY    IN    THIS    COUNTRY. TABLE    OF    FALL    OF    RAIN. 

PROCESS  OF  ARTIFICIAL    HAYMAKING  SUGGESTED. ANALYSIS  OF  STEM 

AND  SEEDS  OF  RYE-GRASS. IMPORTANCE  OF  MAKING  HAY  BEFORE  GRASS 

BEGINS    TO    SEED. 

Immediately  before  the  commencement  of  this  ex- 
periment, the  cattle  had  been  grazing,  and  were  brought 
a  distance  of  about  forty  miles  by  railway  ;  a  circum- 
stance which  may  account  for  several  irregularities  and 
anomalies  in  the  immediate  subsequent  history  of  the 
animals  as  derivable  from  the  tables  : — 


EFFECT  OF  GRASS  AS  FOOD. 


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EFFECT  OF  GRASS  AS  FOOD. 


57 


Proximate  Analysis  of  the  Experiment. — The  com- 
position of  the  grass,  consisting  almost  entirely  of  rye 
grass,  (Lolium  perenne,)  and  of  the  dung,  was  as  fol- 
lows : — 


Grass. 

Dung. 

Water    - 

Sol.  Salts      -         -         -  ) 
Silica  and  Insol.  Salts    -  ( 
Organic  Matter 

75- 

1-34 
23-66 

88-33 

(       0'40 

\       1-35 

9-92 

100-          j      100- 

Hence  the  solid  matter  in  the  food  of  the  brown  cow 
was  356  lbs.,  in  the  dung  147,  while  in  the  food  of  the 
white  cow  there  were  356  lbs.  of  solid  matter,  and  in 
the  dung  140  lbs.,  making  in  all  425  lbs.  swallowed  by 
the  two  cows. 

The  composition  of  the  milk  of  the  cows  was  as  fol- 
lows : — 


Brown. 

White. 

Spec.  Grav. 

1029-8 

1029-8 

Water           - 

87-19 

8735 

Butter            - 

370 

Sugar            - 

435 

Casein           _'■-•- 

416 

Sol.  Salts      - 

0-15 

0156 

Insol.  Salts  - 

044 

0-488 

From  the  previous  experiments  it  therefore  appears, 
that  the  same  quantity  of  food  given  to  cows  nearly  of 
the  same  weight  produced  5  lbs.  less  of  solid  matter 
of  milk  in  one  cow  than  in  the  other  ;  100  lbs.  of  solid 
matter  of  grass  producing  in  the  brown  cow  17£  lbs. 


58  ANALYSIS    OF    THE    EXPERIMENT 

of  dry  milk,  and  in  the  white  cow  only  15|  lbs.  From 
the  column,  however,  in  which  the  weight  of  the  cattle 
is  represented,  it  appears  that  both  cows  were  increas- 
ing in  weight ;  but,  as  the  white  cow  advanced  most 
rapidly,  it  is  probable  that  the  difference  in  the  quantity 
of  solid  milk  may  have  been  applied  to  increase  the 
weight  of  the  white  cow.  There  is  another  alternative 
which  is  also  admissible,  viz.,  that  the  capacity  of  the 
lungs  and  respiratory  organs  of  the  white  cow  were 
greater  than  those  of  the  brown  cow,  since  the  former 
absorbed  a  greater  amount  of  solid  matter  from  the 
grass,  as  appears  from  the  difference  between  the  grass 
and  dung,  than  in  the  case  of  the  brown  cow.  These 
important  differences  in  the  two  animals  rendered  it 
impracticable  to  make  comparative  experiments  upon 
them  at  the  same  time.  The  only  method  which  could 
afford  results  of  value  was,  to  supply  each  with  the 
same  kind  of  food,  and  thus  to  obtain  data  which  could 
enable  a  judgment  to  be  formed  of  the  relative  nature 
of  the  constitutions  of  the  animals. 

The  whole  series,  therefore,  consists  of  two  parallel 
sets  of  experiments,  the  second  of  which  maybe  viewed 
as  a  repetition  of  the  first  trials,  thus  serving  to  control 
any  liability  to  error  which  might  readily  occur  from 
the  nature  of  the  investigation. 

Ultimate  Analysis  of  the  Experiment. — The  ulti- 
mate composition  of  the  grass  and  dung  was  found  to 
be  as  follows  : — 


WITH    GRASS. 


59 


Carbon 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen  - 
Oxygen     - 
Ash      -     -       - 
Water 

Grass. 

Dung. 

Fresh. 

Dried  at  212°. 

Fresh. 

Dried  at  212°. 

11-35 

T48 
0-46 

10-39 
1-32 

75-00 

45-41 
593 
1-84 

41-54 

5-28 

6-40 
0-78 
0-25 
5-20 
1-37 
86-00 

45'74 
5-64 
1-81 

3703 

9-78 

100 

100 

100 

100 

Table  exhibiting  the  Amount  in  Pounds  of  Carbon,  <SfC. 
in  the  Food  and  Dung  during  Fourteen  Days. 


Brown. 

White. 

Grass. 

Dung. 

Consump- 
tion. 

Grass. 

Dung. 

Consump- 
tion. 

Carbon 
Hydrogen  - 
Nitrogen    - 
Oxygen 
Ash       -     - 
Water  -     - 

161f 

21 

148^ 

18f 

1070| 

67 

8 

9  7 
54i 

14 
902} 

94| 
13 

93i 

4?tf  i 
167} 

161| 
21 

6* 
148 
18| 
I'070| 

64 
73 
'4 

2h 
52" 
13| 

860 

97f 

13* 

4 

96 

5 

210| 

1426f 

1049 

377       ; 

1426| 

1000 

426f 

From  this  table  we  learn  that  the  brown  cow  con- 
sumed daily  6f  lbs.  of  carbon  ;  this  is  very  nearly  equi- 
valent to  1  oz.  of  carbon  for  every  9J  lbs.  of  live  weight, 
(the  cow  weighing  8  cwt.  71  lbs.)  The  white  cow 
consumed  daily  nearly  7  lbs.  of  carbon,  or  1  oz.  of  car- 
bon to  8£  lbs.  of  live  weight ;  and  the  daily  consump- 
tion of  all  constituents  is  represented  in  the  following 
table,  which  affords  a  view  of  the  mean  of  the  two 
cows : — 


60  ULTIMATE    NATURE    OF    FOOD. 

lbs. 

Carbon 6'87 

Hydrogen          -  0*93 

Nitrogen           -  0*28 

Oxygen 676 

Ash          -----  0-33 

Water 13*50 


28-67 


That  so  much  matter  should  be  ejected  by  animals 
is  a  circumstance  liable  to  excite  surprise  in  one  who 
examines  the  physiology  of  digestion  merely  in  a  cur- 
sory manner  ;  but  when  we  recollect  that  the  stomachs 
of  a  ccw  are  of  great  capacity,  capable  of  holding  seve- 
ral gallons  of  water,  and  that  these  vessels,  if  we  may 
so  speak,  require  to  be  filled,  in  order  that  a  mechanical 
excitement  may  be  communicated  to  their  surrounding 
coats,  we  may  discover  perhaps  why  a  condensed  regi- 
men, although  it  might  contain  sufficient  nourishment 
to  supply  the  waste  of  the  body,  from  its  insufficiency 
of  bulk  to  excite  the  stomach  to  secrete  the  requisite 
gastric  fluid,  might  be  incompletely  digested.  Hence 
it  may  be  that  grain  and  all  farinaceous  food  are  insuffi- 
cient for  cattle  :  they  require  a  quantity  of  hay  or  straw 
in  addition,  for  the  purpose,  in  common  language,  of 
filling  up  the  animal,  but  possibly  to  excite  the  coats 
of  the  stomach  to  the  action  of  secretion.  It  is  perhaps 
a  preferable  view  to  consider  the  hay  as  containing  a 
larger  amount  of  caloriflent  constituents. 

Of  the  Constituent  of  the  Grass  ivhich  supplies  the 
Butter. — It  is  now  upwards  of  a  century  since  Beccaria 
of  Bologna  broached  the  idea  that  animals  are  composed 
of  the  same  substances  which  they  employ  as  food  : — 
"  En  effet  si  1'on  excepte  la  partie  spirituelle  et  immor- 


THE  SOURCE  OF  THE  BUTTER.  61 

telle  de  notre  etre,  et  si  nous  ne  considerons  que  le 
corps,  sommes  nous  composes  d'autres  substances  que 
de  celles  qui  nous  servent  de  nourriture.  (1742.)" — 
Collection  Academique,  tome  x.  p.  1 .  In  more  recent 
times  Dr.  Prout  has  defended  the  same  doctrine,  and 
has  referred  us  to  milk  as  the  type  of  nourishment. 
In  this  fluid  the  main  solid  constituents  are  oil,  fibrin, 
and  sugar ;  these,  therefore,  or  analogous  bodies,  he 
considers  should  enter  into  the  composition  of  all  whole- 
some nutriment.  Still  more  lately  a  difference  of  opin- 
ion has  resulted  with  reference  to  the  exact  part  which 
starch  or  sugar  plays  in  the  animal  economy.  Fibrinous 
matters,  it  is  generally  admitted,  undergo  little  or  no 
alteration  in  the  system.;  but  whether  it  is  necessary, 
in  order  to  produce  fat  in  an  animal,  that  the  food  should 
contain  oil,  and  that  no  other  form  of  nutriment  can 
produce  this  substance,  is  a  question  which  has  been 
very  much  debated.  It  has  been  contended  that  the 
presence  of  oil,  if  not  essential  in  the  food,  is  at  least 
very  important  in  increasing  the  amount  of  fat  deposit- 
ed ;  while  Liebig  holds,  that  oil  may  possibly  be  assi- 
milated or  converted  into  butter,  but  that  the  same  pro- 
duct may  result  from  the  deoxidation  of  starch  or  sugar 
in  the  animal  economy.  To  the  agriculturist  the  settle- 
ment of  this  question  is  of  no  small  importance,  since  it 
may  guide  him  to  the  use  of  various  kinds  of  food  for 
the  fattening  of  cattle  which  may  otherwise  be  over- 
looked, and  may  also  conduce  to  the  proper  prepara 
tion  of  food,  a  subject  which  has  received  less  attention 
than  perhaps  it  deserves.  In  the  prosecution  of  the 
present  series  of  experiments  the  prospect  of  throwing 
some  light  upon  this  interesting  subject  has  been  kept 
in  view  ;  and,  in  general,  such  experiments  as  were 

6 


62  THE    SOURCE    OF    THE 

required  to  afford  data  for  calculating,  from  the  different 
kinds  of  food,  the  probable  origin  of  the  oily  matter 
secreted  by  the  animals,  have  been  carefully  registered. 
To  solve  the  question,  it  is  necessary  to  ascertain  the 
amount  of  oil  in  the  food.  The  oily  matter  in  the 
grass  was  determined  by  first  drying  the  grass  at  the 
temperature  of  212°,  to  remove  water;  it  was  then 
digested  in  successive  portions  of  ether,  until  this  liquid 
ceased  to  remove  any  matter  in  solution.  The  same 
experiment  was  performed  with  the  dung.  The  first 
process,  therefore,  gave  all  the  oily  matter  swallowed 
by  the  animal,  and  the  second  afforded  the  oil  or  wax 
which  was  not  taken  into  the  system :  2000  grains  of 
grass,  when  dried,  became  500  grains.  By  digestion 
in  ether,  42'3  grains  were  taken  up  of  a  matter  having 
a  dry  waxy  consistence,  possessing  a  green  color,  but 
without  any  of  the  characters  of  a  fluid  oil ;  this  is 
equal  to  2'01  per  cent.  4284  grains  of  moist  dang 
from  grass,  equivalent  to  500  grains  of  dry  dung,  af- 
forded 13*2  grains  of  an  exactly  similar  green  waxy 
matter  to  that  found  in  the  grass,  equal  to  0*312  per 
cent.  The  largest  amount  of  wax  in  the  dung  of  the 
cattle  was  obtained  while  they  were  feeding  on  hay ; 
1000  grains  of  dung  left,  at  the  temperature  of  212°, 
157  grains  of  dry  dung,  which  gave  6  grains  of  wax, 
equivalent  to  0*6  per  cent,  in  moist  dung,  or  3*82  per 
cent,  in  the  dry  dung.  All  of  these  products  were 
carefully  dried  for  some  days  at  the  temperature  of 
boiling  water.  From  these  data,  then,  we  are  enabled 
to  construct  the  following  table  :— 


FAT    OF    ANIMALS.  63 

lbs. 
Amount  of  wax  in  food  of  both  cows  in  fourteen  days     57*3 
Amount  of  wax  in  dung  -  6*3 


Amount  of  wax  consumed  by  the  cows    -  51'0 

Amount  of  dry  butter     -         -         -         -         -         -16*7 


Excess  of  wax  in  the  food      -----     34'3 

To  ascertain  whether  the  whole  of  the  butter  is  re- 
moved from  the  milk  by  the  usual  process  of  churning, 
portions  of  the  same  milk  were  analyzed  by  the  usual 
methods,  for  the  sake  of  comparison.  The  brown 
cow's  milk  in  the  present  experiment  contained  3'46 
per  cent,  of  butter,  while,  by  analysis,  the  amount  was 
3'7,  making  a  difference  of  rather  less  than  a  quarter 
of  a  pound  in  100  pounds  of  milk.  This  is  so  small 
that  it  does  not  affect  the  preceding  calculation,  but 
rather  tends  to  show  that  the  determination  of  such 
questions  on  a  large  scale  is  preferable  to  the  usual 
analytic  methods,  since  the  analysis  of  milk  twice  a  day 
for  several  months  would  be  such  a  laborious  work  as 
to  render  its  accomplishment  impossible. 

It  is  necessary  to  explain  the  circumstance  that  but- 
ter, as  obtained  by  the  usual  mechanical  process,  con- 
tains foreign  matter,  consisting  of  water  and  curd,  or 
casein.     By  analysis,  butter  was  found  to  have  the  fol 
lowing  composition  : — 

Casein 0*94 

Oil 86-27 

Water 12*79 

The  composition  of  French  butter  has  been  stated  to 
be  somewhat  different,  (Boussingault,)  as  it  has  been 
found  to  contain  upwards  of  eighteen  per  cent,  of  im- 


64  PRESERVATION    OF    BUTTER. 

purity.  This  difference  may  be  owing  to  the  coldness 
of  the  summer  during  which  the  present  experiments 
were  made. 

The  hardness  of  the  butter  was  a  subject  of  general 
remark,  and  might  render  it  better  fitted  for  being  freed 
from  the  casein  than  if  it  had  possessed  a  more  fluid 
form. 

Mode  of  -preserving  Butter  fresh. — The  cause  of  the 
tainting  of  fresh  butter  depends  upon  the  presence  of 
the  small  quantity  of  curd  and  water  as  exhibited  by  the 
preceding  analysis.  To  render  butter  capable  of  being 
kept  for  any  length  of  time  in  a  fresh  condition,  that  is, 
as  a  pure  solid  oil,  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  boil  it  in 
a  pan  till  the  water  is  removed,  which  is  marked  by 
the  cessation  of  violent  ebullition.  By  allowing  the 
liquid  oil  to  stand  for  a  little  the  curd  subsides,  and  the 
oil  may  then  be  poured  off,  or  it  may  be  strained  through 
calico  or  muslin,  into  a  bottle,  and  corked  up.  When 
it  is  to  be  used  it  may  be  gently  heated  and  poured  out 
of  the  bottle,  or  cut  out  by  means  of  a  knife  or  cheese- 
gouge.  This  is  the  usual  method  of  preserving  butter 
in  India,  (ghee,)  and  also  on  the  Continent ;  and  it  is 
rather  remarkable  that  it  is  not  in  general  use  in  this 
country.  Bottled  butter  will  thus  keep  for  any  length 
of  time,  and  is  the  best  form  of  this  substance  to  use 
for  sauces. 

From  the  preceding  table  it  appears,  that  the  oil 
consumed  by  the  cows  greatly  exceeded  the  butter, 
and  the  oil  contained  in  the  dung,  even  if  the  casein 
and  the  water  were  not  subtracted  from  the  butter  ;  the 
total  quantity  of  butter  being  19  lbs.  6  oz.  The  result 
of  this  experiment  is  in  perfect  accordance  with  the 
facts   observed  by  Boussingault,  who,  in   similar  re- 


SOURCE    OF    ANIMAL    FAT.  65 

searches  upon  cattle,  found  the  oil  in  the  food  to  ex- 
ceed that  in  the  dung  and  milk.  The  matter  extracted 
by  ether  from  grass,  however,  can  scarcely  be  termed 
an  oil,  since  it  possesses  all  the  characters  of  a  wax ; 
that  is,  a  body  which  contains  a  smaller  amount  of  oxy- 
gen than  a  fat  oil, — certainly  less  than  is  contained  in 
butter.  It  is  therefore  difficult  to  conceive  a  wax  to 
obtain  more  oxygen  in  the  system,  and  to  be  converted 
into  an  oil,  where  all  the  actions  are  calculated  to  re- 
move oxygen,  and  not  to  supply  it :  such  an  occurrence 
would  be  as  probable  as  the  addition  of  oxygen  to  wood 
by  throwing  it  into  a  furnace.  The  production  of  but- 
ter from  sugar  by  the  action  of  casein  or  curd  is,  on 
the  contrary,  a  process  with  which  chemists  are  now 
familiar,  and  is  therefore  more  readily  admissible  into 
physiological  theories  than  the  idea  of  the  formation  of 
butter  from  wax,  since  we  are  unacquainted  with  any 
analogous  example.  The  connection  between  sugar, 
oil,  and  wax  is  exhibited  by  the  following  formula  : — 

Differences. 
Carb.  Hyd.    Oxyg. 

4       4       40 
4       0         2 

In  bees  we  have  a  well  demonstrated  example  of  the 
production  of  wax  from  sugar,  while  fat,  or  the  inter- 
mediate stage,  is  probably  first  produced  in  the  body 
of  the  bee,  and  is  then,  by  the  loss  of  a  small  portion 
of  carbon  and  oxygen,  converted  into  wax,  or  to  the 
lowest  state  of  oxidation  existing  in  the  animal  system. 
The  point  therefore  to  which  it  is  necessary  to  direct 
attention  is,  that  we  have  instances  in  chemical  phy- 
siology of  substances  being  produced  from  the  others 
preceding  i>  in  the  table,  but  that  we  are  unacquainted 

6* 


Carb. 

Hyd. 

Oxyg. 

Sugar  - 

-     48 

44 

44 

Fat       - 

-     44 

40 

4 

Wax    - 

-     40 

40 

2 

66  NATURE    OF    FIBRIN. 

with  any  phenomena  of  an  inverse  order  ;  nor  would 
such  an  occurrence  be  explicable  upon  the  principles 
on  which  the  animal  system  is  understood  to  proceed. 
Taking  all  these  circumstances  into  consideration,  it 
appears  that  there  are  fewer  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
supposing  that  butter  is  formed  from  the  starch  and 
sugar,  or  albuminous  matter,  of  the  food,  than  from  the 
waxy  matter  which  is  present  in  such  considerable 
quantities.  There  is  only  one  instance,  with  which 
physiologists  are  at  present  acquainted,  that  could  be 
adduced  as  evidence  in  favor  of  any  substance  being 
rendered  more  complex  in  the  animal  system,  viz.,  the 
production  of  fibrin  or  flesh  from  curd  or  casein.  So 
far  as  chemical  experiments  carry  us,  we  are  not  in  a 
condition  to  affirm  that  no  fibrin  exists  in  milk,  but  it  is 
admitted  that  none  has  as  yet  been  detected.  If  these 
be  correct,  then  it  would  appear  to  follow  that  the  in- 
fant fed  on  milk  must  derive  its  flesh  from  the  curd  of 
that  fluid,  and  that  as  curd  contains  no  phosphorus, 
(while  fibrin  does,)  the  curd  of  the  milk,  in  order  to 
form  muscular  fibre,  is  united  to  phosphorus  in  the 
animal  system,  and  is  thus  built  up,  instead  of  being, 
as  is  the  rule  with  other  substances,  reduced  to  a 
smaller  number  of  elements. 

The  objection  to  this  view  of  the  subject  is,  that  the 
experiments  which  have  been  made  on  fibrin  do  not 
prove  that  it  contains  phosphorus  ;  they  only  prove  that 
phosphoric  acid  can  be  detected  in  it  even  when  it  is 
purified  in  the  most  careful  manner  suggested  by  chem- 
ical knowledge ;  and  it  would  therefore  be  somewhat 
premature  to  adopt  any  such  analogy  as  that  which  we 
have  been  considering.* 

*  When  this  passage  was  written,  in  November,  1845,  I  founded 


HAY  AND  GRASS  AS  FOOD. 


67 


On  the  Nature  of  Grass  and  Hay  as  Food. — Grass, 
as  may  be  readily  imagined,  varies  very  considerably 
in  its  composition,  according  to  its  age,  and  also,  as 
may  be  expected,  according  to  its  species.  The  ex- 
periments undertaken  during  the  present  investigation 
have  sufficiently  demonstrated  the  first  of  these  posi- 
tions ;  but  the  second  is  still  open  for  inquiry,  since 
chemists  who  have  previously  analyzed  grass  and  hay 
have  omitted  to  particularize  the  botanical  names  of  the 
plants  which  they  have  examined.  The  grass  used  in 
the  present  experiments  consisted  almost  entirely  of 
rye  grass,  (Lolium  perenne,)  and  the  hay  employed 
was  also  similarly  constituted. 

It  may  be  interesting,  for  the  sake  of  comparison,  to 
give  a  table  of  the  analysis  of  such  specimens  of  hay  as 
have  been  analyzed  hitherto  : — 


my  reasoning  in  reference  to  the  probability  of  phosphorus  not  being  a 
constituent  of  animal  substances  partly  on  the  circumstance  that  Fre- 
my,  in  his  analysis  of  the  acid  of  the  nerves,  (cerebric  acid,)  found  0*9 
per  cent,  of  phosphorus ;  while,  in  my  examination  of  the  same  sub- 
stance, further  purified,  I  found  only  0-46  per  cent.  Since  that  period, 
however,  Liebig  has  found  that,  when  properly  prepared,  fibrin  and 
albumen  are  destitute  of  phosphorus.  In  the  May  number  of  the  Phil- 
osophical Magazine  for  1846,  I  have  described  a  modification  of  fibrin 
under  the  name  of  pegmin,  well  known  as  the  buffy  coat  of  inflamed 
blood.  This  substance  contains  sulphur,  and  cannot  therefore  be  termed 
an  oxide  of  protein.  Under  the  name  of  pyropin  I  have  also  described 
a  ruby-colored  substance  found  in  the  position  of  the  pulp  of  the  ele- 
phant's tooth.     The  following  is  their  composition: — 


Carbon 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen  - 
Oxygen    - 
Sulphur    - 

•     s 

Pegmin. 

Pyropin. 

52-07 

7-00 

14-31 

26-62 

I. 
53-33 
7-52 
14-50      J 

24.65      C 

ii. 

53-50 

7-66 

38-84 

68 


COMPOSITION    OF    RYE-GRASS. 


II. 


III. 


Analysis  of  hay  made  at  Giessen  by  Dr.  Will  : 

the  species  of  grass  is  not  mentioned. 
Hay  grown  in  the  neighborhood  of  Strasburg  in 

France,  analyzed  by  M.  Boussingault :  the  name 

of  the  grass  is  omitted. 
Analysis  of  Lolium  perenne,  as  previously  given 

and  used  in  the  present  experiments. 


Carbon 

I. 

II. 

III. 

45-87 

45-80 

4541 

Hydrogen 

5-76 

500 

593 

Nitrogen  - 
Oxygen     - 

\ 

4155 

i 

1-50 

38-70 

1-84 
39-21 

Ash 

6-82 

9-00 

761 

Although  the  species  of  grasses  constituting  these 
specimens  of  hay  were  in  all  probability  different,  the 
correspondence  in  their  composition  is  sufficiently  stri- 
king. 

The  amount  of  solid  matter  in  this  grass  varied  from 
eighteen  to  upwards  of  thirty  per  cent.,  according  to 
the  early  or  late  period  of  its  growth.  The  grass  made 
use  of  in  the  first  experiment  contained  from  eighteen 
to  twenty-five  per  cent.  In  our  calculations  the  latter 
number  has  been  adopted. 

When  grass  first  springs  above  the  surface  of  the 
earth  the  principal  constituent  of  its  early  blades  is 
water,  the  amount  of  solid  matter  being  comparatively 
trifling ;  as  it  rises  higher  into  day  the  deposition  of  a 
more  indurated  form  of  carbon  gradually  becomes  more 
considerable  ;  the  sugar  and  soluble  matter  at  first  in- 
creasing, then  gradually  diminishing,  to  give  way  to 
the  deposition  of  woody  substance. 


COMPOSITION    OF    RYE-GRASS. 


69 


The  following  table  affords  a  view  of  the  composition 
of  rye-grass  before  and  after  ripening  : — 


Water 

Solid  Matter      - 

18th  June. 

23d  June. 

13th  July. 

76-19 
2381 

8123 

18-77 

6900 
31-00 

These  are  important  practical  facts  for  the  agri- 
culturist ;  for  if,  as  we  have  endeavored  to  show,  the 
sugar  be  an  important  element  of  the  food  of  ani- 
mals, then  it  should  be  an  object  with  the  farmer  to 
cut  grass  for  the  purpose  of  haymaking  at  that  period 
when  the  largest  amount  of  matter  soluble  in  water  is 
contained  in  it.  This  is  assuredly  at  an  earlier  pe- 
riod of  its  growth  than  when  it  has  shot  into  seed,  for 
it  is  then  that  woody  matter  predominates  ;  a  substance 
totally  insoluble  in  water,  and  therefore  less  calculated 
to  serve  as  food  to  animals  than  substances  capable  of 
assuming  a  soluble  condition.  This  is  the  first  point 
for  consideration  in  the  production  of  hay,  since  it  ought 
to  be  the  object  of  the  farmer  to  preserve  the  hay  for 
winter  use  in  the  condition  most  resembling  the  grass 
in  its  highest  state  of  perfection.  The  second  consid- 
eration in  haymaking  is  to  dry  the  grass  under  such 
circumstances  as  to  retain  the  soluble  portion  in  per- 
fect integrity.  To  ascertain  whether  hay,  by  the  pro- 
cess and  exposure  which  it  undergoes,  loses  any  of  its 
soluble  constituents,  the  following  experiments  were 
made  : — 

1st. — 3000  grains  of  rye-grass  in  seed,  on  the  13th 
July,  gave  up  to  hot  water  a  thick  sirupy  fluid, 
which,  when  dried  till  it  ceased  to  lose  weight 


70  DIFFERENCE    OF    GRASS    AND    HAY. 

at  212°,  weighed  217*94  grains,  equivalent  to 
7'26  per  cent. 

2d. — 2500  grains  of  rye-grass,  digested  in  cold  wa- 
ter, yielded  53*23  grains  of  extract,  equal  to 
2' 12  per  cent.  This  rye-grass  contained  31 
per  cent,  of  solid  matter,  and  69  per  cent,  of 
water. 

3d. — New  hay,  made  from  rye-grass,  and  containing 
20  per  cent,  of  water,  for  the  sake  of  compari- 
son, was  also  subjected  to  similar  trials. 

Grains.  Grains. 

1st.   1369  gave  to  hot  water  220'77  of  extract,  16*12  per  cent. 

1000  -  -  159-34     -         -       1593 

1000  -  140  -         -       14 

2d.    2000  grains  of  new  hay,  in  seed,  digested  in  cold  water, 

yielded  10T3  grains  of  extract  ==  5'06  per  cent,  of  soluble 

matter. 

From  these  numbers  we  learn  that  100  parts  of  hay 
are  equivalent  to  387|  of  grass.  This  amount  of  grass 
should  contain  of  soluble  matter  in  hot  water  28*13 
parts,  and  in  cold  water  8*21  parts.  But  the  equiva- 
lent quantity  of  hay,  or  100  parts,  only  contains  16 
instead  of  28  parts  soluble  in  hot  water,  and  5*06  in- 
stead of  8^  parts  soluble  in  cold  water.  A  very  large 
proportion  of  the  soluble  matter  of  the  grass  has  ob- 
viously disappeared  in  the  conversion  of  grass  into 
hay.  The  result  of  the  haymaking  in  this  particular 
instance  has,  therefore,  been  to  approximate  the  soft, 
juicy,  and  tender  grass  to  woody  matter,  by  washing 
out  or  decomposing  its  sugar  and  other  soluble  consti- 
tuents. These  facts  enable  us  to  explain  the  reason 
why  cattle  consume  a  larger  amount  of  hay  than  is 
equivalent  to  the  relative  quantity  of  grass.     Thus  ani- 


DECOMPOSITION    OF    HAY.  71 

mals  which  can  subsist  upon  100  lbs.  of  grass  should 
be  able  to  retain  the  same  condition  by  the  use  of  25 
lbs.  of  hay,  if  the  latter  suffered  no  deterioration  in 
drying.  The  present  series  of  experiments,  however, 
show  that  a  cow,  thriving  on  100  to  120  lbs.  of  grass, 
required  25  lbs.  of  hay,  and  9  lbs.  of  barley  or  malt, 
affording  thus  collateral  evidence  of  the  view  which  we 
have  taken  of  the  imperfection  of  the  process  of  hay- 
making at  present  in  use  in  this  country. 

The  great  cause  of  the  deterioration  of  hay  is  the 
water  which  may  be  present,  either  from  the  incom- 
plete removal  of  the  natural  amount  of  water  in  the 
grass  by  drying,  or  by  the  absorption  of  this  fluid  from 
the  atmosphere.  Water  when  existing  in  hay  from 
either  of  these  sources  will  induce  fermentation,  a  pro- 
cess by  which  one  of  the  most  important  constituents 
of  the  grass, — viz.,  sugar — will  be  destroyed.  The 
action  necessary  for  decomposing  the  sugar  is  induced 
by  the  presence  of  the  albuminous  matter  of  the  grass  ; 
the  elements  of  the  sugar  are  made  to  re-act  on  each 
other  in  the  moist  state  in  which  they  exist,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  presence  of  the  water  and  oil,  and  are 
converted  into  alcohol  and  carbonic  acid  according  to 
the  following  formula  : — 

Carb.      Hyd.     Oxyg. 

1  atom  sugar    -         -         -         -         -     12       12       12 

2  atoms  alcohol  8       12         4 
4  atoms  carbonic  acid  4         0         8 


That  alcohol  is  produced  in  a  heated  haystack  in 
many  cases  may  be  detected  by  the  similarity  of  the 
odor  disengaged  to  that  perceptible  in  a  brewery.  We 
use  this  comparison  because  it  has  been  more  than 


72  LOSS    SUSTAINED    BY 

once  suggested  to  us  by  agriculturists.  The  quantity 
of  water  or  volatile  matter  capable  of  being  removed 
fiom  hay  at  the  temperature  of  boiling  water  varies 
considerably.  The  amount  of  variation  during  the 
present  experiments  was  from  20  to  14  per  cent.  If 
the  lower  per-centage  could  be  attained  at  once  by 
simple  drying  in  the  sun,  the  process  of  haymaking 
would  probably  admit  of  little  improvement ;  but  the 
best  new-made  hay  that  we  have  examined  contained 
more  than  this  amount  of  water,  the  numbers  obtained 
verging  towards  20  per  cent.  When  it  contains  as 
much  as  this  it  is  very  liable  to  ferment,  especially  if  it 
should  happen  to  be  moistened  by  any  accidental  ap- 
proach of  water.  The  only  method  which  we  have 
found  to  succeed  in  preserving  grass  perfectly  entire  is 
by  drying  it  by  means  of  artificial  heat.  Rye  grass 
contains,  at  an  early  period  of  its  growth,  as  much  as 
81  per  cent,  of  water,  the  whole  of  which  may  be  re- 
moved by  subjecting  the  grass  to  a  temperature  con- 
siderably under  that  of  boiling  water ;  but,  even  with 
a  heat  of  120°,  the  greater  portion  of  the  water  is  re- 
moved, and  the  grass  still  retains  its  green  color,  a  cha- 
racter which  appears  to  add  greatly  to  the  relish  with 
which  cattle  consume  this  kind  of  provender.  When 
this  dried  grass  (as  it  may  be  truly  termed  by  way  of 
distinction  from  hay)  is  examined,  it  will  be  found  to 
consist  of  a  series  of  tubes,  which,  if  placed  in  water, 
will  be  filled  with  the  fluid,  .and  assume  in  some  meas- 
ure the  aspect  of  its  original  condition.  In  this  form 
cattle  will  eat  it  with  relish,  and  prefer  it  to  hay,  which, 
in  comparison,  is  blanched,  dry,  and  sapless.  The  ad- 
vantages obtained  by  this  method  of  making  hay,  or 
rather  of  preserving  grass  in  a  dry  state,  are  sufficiently 


HAY    IN    DRVING.  73 

obvious.  By  this  means  all  the  constituents  of  the 
grass  are  retained  in  a  state  of  integrity ;  the  sugar, 
by  the  absence  of  water,  is  protected  from  undergoing 
decomposition,  the  coloring  matter  of  the  grass  is  com- 
paratively little  affected,  while  the  soluble  salts  are  not 
exposed  to  the  risk  of  being  washed  out  by  the  rains, 
as  in  the  common  process  of  haymaking.  The  amount 
of  soluble  matter  capable  of  being  taken  up  by  cold 
water  is,  according  to  the  preceding  trials,  as  much  as 
5  per  cent.,  or  a  third  of  the  whole  soluble  matter  in 
hay.  We  may  therefore  form  some  notion  of  the  in- 
jury liable  to  be  produced  by  every  shower  of  rain 
which  drenches  the  fields  during  hay  harvest.  It  is 
not  only,  however,  the  loss  which  it  sustains,  in  re- 
gard to  the  sugar  and  soluble  salts,  that  renders  hay  so 
much  less  acceptable  than  grass  to  the  appetite  of  cat- 
tle. The  bleaching  which  it  undergoes  in  the  sun  de- 
prives it  of  the  only  peculiarity  which  distinguishes 
the  one  form  of  fodder  from  the  other ;  grass  deprived 
of  its  green  coloring  matter  presents  exactly  the  ap- 
pearance of  straw,  so  that  hay  ought  to  be  termed 
grass  straw.  It  is  obvious,  from  the  experiments  de- 
tailed, that  the  operation  of  haymaking,  as  conducted 
in  this  country,  has  a  tendency  to  remove  a  great  pro- 
portion of  the  wax  in  the  grass.  Thus  it  was  found 
that  rye-grass  contained  2' 01  per  cent,  of  wax.  Now 
as  387|  parts  of  rye-grass  are  equivalent  to  100  parts 
of  hay,  and  as  387|  parts  of  grass  contain  7'78  parts 
of  wax,  it  is  obvious  that  100  parts  of  hay  should  con- 
tain the  same  amount  of  wax  ;  but  by  experiment  it 
was  found  that  200  grains  of  hay  contained  4  grains 
of  wax,  which  is  equivalent  to  2  per  cent.,  almost  ex- 
actly the  amount  contained  in  grass.    Hence  it  appears 

7 


74 


AMOUNT    OF    RAIN    FALL. 


that  no  less  than  5*78  grains  of  wax  have  disappeared 
during  the  haymaking  process.  The  whitening  process 
which  the  grass  undergoes  in  drying  renders  it  appa- 
rent that  the  green  coloring  matter  has  undergone 
change  ;  but  that  it  should  have  been  actually  removed 
to  such  an  extent,  or  at  least  have  become  insoluble  in 
ether,  is  a  result  which  could  scarcely  have  been  an- 
ticipated without  actual  experiment.  Some  improve- 
ment in  the  preparation  of  hay  is  imperatively  demand- 
ed in  such  localities  as  are  affected  with  a  more  than 
usual  fall  of  rain.  The  following  table  of  the  fall  of 
rain  will  point  out  where  such  precautions  are  more 
particularly  required  : — 


Glasgow         - 
London  - 

Inches. 

2T3 
24'0 

Edinburgh              ■  - 

245 

Berwickshire  - 

32-5 

5  Abbey  St.  Bathans, 
\  400  feet  above  sea. 

Manchester     - 

36-1 

Lancaster       - 

39-7 

Paisley  - 

47-1 

at  the  Reservoir. 

Strathaven      - 

45-8 

700  feet  above  sea. 

Greenock        ... 

61-8 

j  800  feet  above  the 
(  town. 

The  Glasgow  result  is  the  mean  of  many  years'  ob- 
servation at  the  Macfarlane  Observatory.  The  London 
is  taken  from  the  Royal  Society  Register,  the  mean  of 
ten  years.  The  Edinburgh  number  is  from  observa- 
tions at  the  observatory.  The  Berwickshire  number 
is  the  mean  of  two  years'  register,  by  Mr.  Wallace, 
kept  at  my  request.  The  Manchester  and  Lancaster 
are  from  Dr.  Dalton.  The  Paisley  and  Greenock  re- 
sults are  from  the  water-works  register,  the  mean  of 


ARTIFICIAL    HAYMAKING.  75 

seven  years.    The  Strathaven  number  is  from  registers 
kept  at  my  request  by  Mr.  Wiseman. 

Frequently  the  quantity  of  rain  which  falls  in  May 
and  June,  the  haymaking  season,"  is  greater  than  in 
April  and  July.  In  those  localities  where  the  fall  of 
rain  is  so  considerable,  the  preparation  of  good  sound 
hay  by  the  usual  process  will  be  almost  impracticable, 
and  in  such  places  too  frequently  hay  in  a  state  of  de- 
composition is  given  to  animals,  at  the  risk  of  their 
being  seriously  injured,  since  all  food  whose  particles 
are  in  a  state  of  fermentation  or  putrefaction,  which 
are  analogous  actions,  must  have  a  tendency  to  pro- 
duce similar  decompositions  in  the  fluids  of  the  animal 
system.  In  the  neighborhood  of  manufacturing  towns 
there  could  be  no  difficulty  in  preparing  abundance  of 
hay  by  the  process  now  recommended.  The  waste 
heat  of  the  chimneys  might  be  sent  through  apartments 
or  sheds  of  almost  temporary  construction,  guided  by 
a  proper  draught,  so  as  to  carry  off  the  vapor  as  soon 
as  it  is  volatilized ;  and  the  same  arrangements  might, 
with  economy,  be  adopted  in  conjunction  with  brick 
and  tile  works.  Haymaking  would  thus  commence  at 
a  much  earlier  period  of  the  season,  the  grass  would 
be  cut,  carted  to  the  drying-room,  and  in  the  course  of 
a  few  hours  be  ready  for  stacking.  When  hay  pre- 
pared in  this  manner  is  to  be  given  to  cattle  and  horses 
it  may  be  steeped  in  a  tank  for  twenty-four  hours,  or 
any  adequate  period,  before  being  placed  in  the  racks 
and  boxes  ;  and  the  steep  water,  which  will  contain 
sugar  and  soluble  salts,  should  be  given  them  to 
drink. 

By  this  system  of  preserving  grass  we  should  be 
continuing  to  our  cattle  in  winter  our  summer  food, 


76  ARTIFICIAL    GRASS    AND    CORN    DRYING. 

which  all  admit  to  be  superior  to  every  other  substi- 
tute ;  and  while  the  animals  themselves  would  be  ben- 
efited, much  uneasiness  and  trouble  in  winter  would  be 
saved  to  the  farmer.  In  a  moist  climate,  especially 
like  that  exhibited  in  Scotland  during  the  last  year,  it 
appears  highly  desirable  that  farmers  should  possess 
on  their  premises  a  drying-room,  where  hay,  potatoes, 
and  even  corn,  might  be  dried.  Had  such  a  conve- 
nience been  attached  to  many  of  our  farmers'  offices 
last  st  ison  much  corn  might  have  been  saved,  even  by 
drying  one  or  two  cart-loads  daily.  This  desideratum 
might  be  effected  by  running  a  flue  through  the  barn, 
level  with  the  floor,  its  upper  surface  being  covered 
with  iron  plate  or  tiles.  By  means  of  a  small  quantity 
of  fuel  a  bam -full  of  corn  in  sheaves,  properly  dis- 
posed, might  be  dried  in  a  few  hours.  The  artificial 
method  of  drying  grass  here  suggested  will  of  course 
be  unnecessary  when  the  grass  can  be  deprived  of  its 
water  by  the  heat  of  the  sun  with  sufficient  rapidity, 
and  without  being  exposed  to  the  drenching  influence 
of  the  rain  of  our  northern  climate.  That  rapid  drying 
can  be  effected,  even  in  wet  seasons,  in  Scotland,  I 
have  had  an  opportunity  of  witnessing,  in  the  case  of 
an  excellent  sample  of  hay  prepared  during  the  sum- 
mer of  1845,  on  the  grounds  of  Mr.  Fleming,  of  Baro- 
chan,  for  a  specimen  of  which  I  am  indebted  to  that 
gentleman.  The  only  complaint  which  I  have  heard 
offered  to  the  English  plan  of  haymaking  is  the  addi- 
tional amount  of  labor  required,  but  surely  any  rational 
excess  of  labor  is  preferable  to  the  complete  deteriora- 
tion of  the  hay  crop. 

The  constituents  of  the  rye-grass,  washed  out  by 
rain,  would  be  principally  the  sugar  and  soluble  salts. 


COMPOSITION    OF    RYE-GRASS. 


77 


The  nature  of  the  inorganic  salts,  both  of  the  stem  of 
the  grass,  when  dried,  as  hay,  and  of  the  seeds,  is  as 
represented  in  the  following  tables. 

100  parts  of  the  stem  and  seeds  were  composed  as 
follows  : — 


Water 

Organic  Matter  - 

Ash  - 

Stem. 

Stem. 

Seed. 

15-50 
7952 

4-98 

19*30 

75-72 
4-98 

11-376 

82-548 
6-070 

Table  of  Saline  Matter  in  Stem  and  Seeds  of  Lolium 
perenne,  (Rye-grass.) 


Silica  - 

Phosphoric  Acid  - 

Sulphuric  Acid 

Chlorine 

Carbonic  Acid 

Magnesia 

Lime    - 

Peroxide  of  Iron  - 

Potash 

Soda    - 


Stem. 

Seed. 

64-57 

4328 

1251 

16-89 

- 

312 

- 

trace 

_ 

361 

401 

531 

6-50 

18-55 

0-36 

2-10 

8-03 

5-80 

2-17 

1-38 

There  is  no  doubt,  from  numerous  other  analyses 
which  I  have  made,  that  these  numbers  undergo  very 
considerable  modifications  on  different  soils. 

A  comparison  of  the  two  columns  of  this  table  adds 
another  argument  to  that  already  brought  forward 
against  the  practice  of  allowing  rye-grass  to  come  to 
seed  before  cutting  it  for  hay,  since  the  seed  tends  to 
remove  a  larger  portion  of  phosphoric  acid  from  the 
soil  than  the  stem  ;  the  quantity  of  acid  found  in  the 


78  COMPOSITION    OF    RYE-GRASS. 

seed  exceeding  that  in  the  stem  by  one  fourth.  A  sim- 
ilar observation,  with  greater  force,  applies  to  the  lime, 
as  the  amount  of  this  earth  is  two  thirds  greater  in  the 
seed  than  in  the  stem.  The  quantity  of  alkalies  is 
twice  as  great  in  the  stem  as  in  the  seed,  while  the 
total  ash  of  the  seed  is  a  sixth  part  superior  in  amount 
to  that  of  the  stem. 


BARLEY    AND    MALT    DIET.  79 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ON  BARLEY  AND  MALT  DIET. 

BARLEY  AND  MALT,  WHEN  NOT  CRUSHED,  ALTHOUGH  STEEPED  IN  HOT 
WATER,  ARE  IMPERFECTLY  DIGESTED  BY  COWS. — TOO  LARGE  A  QUAN- 
TITY OF  GRAIN    DIMINISHES   THE    AMOUNT   OF  MILK. BARLEY  PRODUCES 

A  GREATER  QUANTITY  OF  MILK  AND  BUTTER  THAN  MALT. DIFFERENCE 

IN    THE    ULTIMATE    COMPOSITION    OF    BARLEY    AND    MALT. DIFFERENCE 

IN   THE    AMOUNT   OF  NITROGEN    IN    BARLEY  AND  MALT. DIFFERENCE  IN 

THE    SALINE    CONSTITUENTS    OF    BARLEY    AND    MALT. EFFECT    OF   THE 

PROCESS    OF   MALTING. 

Although  it  might  appear  that  the  most  correct 
method  of  determining  experimentally  the  comparative 
nutritive  effect  of  food  would  be  to  accustom  an  animal 
to  a  diet  of  one  species  of  food,  and  then  to  substitute 
for  a  certain  portion  of  it  a  definite  quantity  of  that 
whose  nutritive  power  was  intended  to  be  tried,  and, 
lastly,  to  calculate  the  results,  experience  leads  us  to  a 
different  method  of  investigation.  Physiology  tends  to 
show  us,  that  an  animal  performing  certain  functions 
consumes  an  amount  of  oxygen  daily,  varying  accord- 
ing to  the  state  of  the  atmosphere  and  to  other  physical 
causes  which  are  not  always  capable  of  appreciation. 
We  adduce  at  once,  then,  from  these  circumstances, 
apart  from  experiments,  that  an  animal  consumes  every 
day  a  different  amount  of  fodder,  and  that,  if  it  is  not 
permitted  to  use  as  much  food  as  shall  repair  the  waste 
of  its   system,   it  must  lose  flesh  and  strength ;   and 


80  INFLUENCE    OF 

hence  experiments  made  without  a  due  attention  to  the 
physiological  state  of  the  animal  must  lead  to  conclu- 
sions which  are  not  legitimate.  The  force  of  this  ob- 
servation we  have  had  sufficient  opportunities  of  ob- 
serving, not  only  on  the  present  but  on  other  occasions, 
and  it  may  be  illustrated  by  the  following  example  : — 
A  cow,  if  fed  for  two  days  on  an  insufficient  quantity 
of  food,  as  indicated  by  loss  of  weight  and  diminution 
of  milk,  will  require  at  least  double  that  time  to  reach 
the  condition  from  which  it  had  deteriorated  ;  and  the 
reason  of  this  is  obvious,  because  the  partial  starvation 
has  caused  it  to  lose  a  portion  of  the  substance  of  its 
body,  which  requires  a  longer  time  to  re-establish  than 
to  pull  down.  This  rule  is  applicable  to  the  dietary 
of  men  as  well  as  the  inferior  animals.  An  increase 
of  labor  should  always  be  accompanied  with  an  in- 
crease of  food,  both  at  sea  and  in  prison  ;  a  short  walk 
to  one  confined  in  a  solitary  cell  calls  for  some  aug- 
mentation of  food.  A  slight  increase  of  temperature, 
or  the  irritating  influence  of  insects,  will  effectually 
diminish  the  milk  of  a  cow,  and  indicates  the  propriety 
of  increasing  the  amount  of  fodder.  The  first  two  of 
the  following  experiments  demonstrates  these  positions 
in  a  striking  manner.  With  the  entire  malt  and  barley 
the  amount  of  grass  was  limited,  but  afterwards  the  hay 
was  supplied  ad  libitum. 


ENTIRE    BARLEY    AS    FOOD. 


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ENTIRE  BARLEY  AS  FOOD. 


83 


The  result  of  this  and  the  following  experiment  de- 
monstrates the  importance  of  reducing  the  food  to  a 
fine  state  of  division. 

Previous  to  this  experiment,  as  will  be  observed  by 
consulting  the  table  of  experiments  on  the  effect  of 
grass  in  feeding  the  cows,  the  animals  were  both  gain- 
ing weight.  By  calculating  the  value  of  the  barley  as 
a  nutritious  body  from  the  nitrogen  contained  in  it,  it 
was  found  that  2\  lbs.  of  barley  contain  as  much  albu- 
minous nutriment  as  10  lbs.  of  grass.  The  result  of 
the  experiment,  however,  shows  that  although  this  fact 
may  be  correct,  yet  that  the  conditions  of  the  trial  were 
not  such  as  to  prevent  the  animals  from  falling  off  both 
in  milk  and  in  weight.  The  true  reason  of  the  failure 
seems  to  have  been,  that  the  digestion  of  the  barley 
was  in  some  degree  prevented  by  the  want  of  power 
in  the  animal  organs  to  rupture  the  husk  of  the  grain. 
The  result  of  the  experiment  demonstrates  the  import- 
ance of  a  certain  amount  of  cookery  in  feeding  cattle 
which  are  possessed  of  teeth  only  in  one  jaw. 

The  data  which  have  served  as  the  basis  of  the  pre- 
ceding calculations  are  included  in  the  following  table, 
as  derived  from  repeated  experiments  : — 

Water  and  Solid  Matter  in  Food. 


Solid  Matter    - 
Water     - 

Milk. 

Dung. 

Grass. 

Barley. 

12-6 

87-4 

13-46 

86-54 

31- 

69- 

90-54 
9-46 

The  white  cow's  milk  on  the  second  of  July,  or  ninth 
day  of  the  experiment,  possessed  the  following  compo- 
sition, the  specific  gravity  being  1,032  : 


84  ENTIRE    BARLEY    AS    FOOD. 

Water 87 '40 

Soluble  salts 0*17 

Insoluble  salts          -  0*42 
Butter            -\ 

Sugar              >         ...  12-01 
Casein            3 

In  several  determinations  the  water  in  the  milk  of 
both  cows  was  never  found  to  vary  more  than  a  few 
tenths  when  prooerly  dried. 

In  comparing  this  experiment  with  the  preceding,  by 
examining  the  proximate  tables,  (Table  I.  Appendix,) 
we  find  that  while  100  lbs.  of  dry  grass  produce  about 
11|  lbs.  of  dry  milk,  100  lbs.  of  dry  grass  and  entire 
barley  mixed  produce  8|  lbs.  of  dry  milk.  Grass  alone 
produces  a  larger  quantity  of  dung  than  mixed  barley 
and  grass  fodder  ;  100  lbs.  of  grass  leaving  33^  lbs.  of 
dung,  while  barley  and  grass  produce  only  30  lbs.  of 
dung;  but  100  lbs.  of  the  grass  consumed,  that  is,  the 
grass  taken  into  the  circulation  of  the  animal,  and  not 
rejected  in  the  form  of  dung,  produces  171  lbs.  of  dry 
milk,  while  100  lbs.  of  the  mixed  barley  and  grass  diet 
form  only  12  lbs.  of  dry  milk.  This  may  proceed 
from  the  circumstance  that  more  solid  matter  was  ac- 
tually contained  in  the  grass  than  in  the  equivalent  of 
barley  employed ;  but  the  cause  becomes  not  so  ob- 
vious when  we  consider  that  a  portion  of  the  barley 
was  rejected  entire  along  with  the  dung.  The  more 
probable  explanation  of  the  apparent  anomaly  may  be, 
that  the  dung  varies  slightly  in  its  composition  ;  the 
small  difference  of  3%  lbs.  may  be  owing  to  this  source 
of  error  in  the  calculation.  Another  important  deduc- 
tion from  these  two  experiments  in  reference  to  econo- 
my is,  that  the  total  quantity  of  matter  taken  into  the 


COMPOSITION    OF    BARLEY 


85 


circulation  daily  is  less,  when  grass  is  alone  used,  than 
when  a  mixed  diet  is  employed  ;  the  daily  consumption 
being  of  dry  grass,  by  both  cows,  33|  lbs.,  and  of  the 
mixed  diet  42  lbs.,  being  a  difference  of  9  lbs.,  or  4^ 
lbs.  by  each  cow. 

This  fact  may  be  explained  by  the  circumstance,  that 
there  is  a  greater  difficulty  in  digesting  the  grass,  from 
its  greater  bulk,  than  in  absorbing  the  constituents  of 
the  steeped  barley,  a  large  portion  of  which  is  in  solu- 
tion before  being  introduced  into  the  stomach,  and  may 
be  partially  employed  with  greater  rapidity  in  the  pro- 
cess of  producing  heat,  and  partially  be  expelled  as  a 
liquid  excretion. 

Ultimate  Analysis  of  the  Experiment. — The  ultimate 
composition  of  barley  was  found  to  be  as  follows  : — 


Carbon 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

46-11 

41-04 

Hydrogen  - 

Nitrogen    - 

6-65 
1-91 

6-02 
1-81 

2-01 

1-98 

1-95 

Oxygen 
Ash  - 

42-24 
3-09 

38-28 
2-79 

Water 

- 

9-46 

100- 

100-       i 

1st,  8'87  grains  of  barley,  dried  at  212°,  gave,  by 
combustion  with  chromate  of  lead,  15"04  carbonic  acid, 
and  5*3  water. 

2d,  14  grains  gave,  with  lime  and  soda,  1*88  plati- 
num=r91  per  cent,  nitrogen. 

3d,  0*923  gramme  gave  0'288  gramme  platino  sal 
ammoniac=r98  per  cent,  nitrogen. 

4th,  0'834  gramme  gave  0*282  platinum  salt=l'95 
nitrogen  per  cent.* 

*  For  these  two  experiments  I  am  indebted  to  Dr.  Bottinger. 

8 


INFLUENCE    OF 


5th,  in 3  gave  T57  platinum=2"01  per  cent,  ni- 


trogen. 


Calculating  from  the  composition  of  the  grass  and 
barley,  we  find  that  the  two  cows  consumed  304j  lbs. 
of  carbon  during  the  course  of  the  experiment,  with  a 
proportionate  amount  of  the  other  ultimate  ingredients. 
In  this  experiment  it  was  observed,  that  some  of  the 
grains  of  barley  were  ejected  from  the  intestines  24,  48, 
and  even  72  hours  after  being  swallowed,  in  an  entire 
state,  so  that  they  must  have  been  detained  in  some 
portion  of  the  alimentary  canal  during  that  lengthened 
period  without  having  undergone  any  appearance  of 
digestion. 


ENTIRE    MALT    AS    FOOD. 


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ENTIRE    MALT    AS    FOOD.  89 

The  malt  was  covered  with  boiling-hot  water,  and 
allowed  to  remain  for  twelve  hours,  in  the  first  part  of 
the  experiment ;  in  the  latter  period  of  the  trial  the 
malt  was  weighed  out  in  three  portions  ;  the  last  por- 
tion was  therefore  subjected  to  a  digestion  of  twenty- 
four  hours.  The  mash  water  was  always  acid,  and 
yet  was  relished  by  the  cattle.  This  is  opposed  to  the 
observation  of  some,  who  affirm  that  acid  liquors  are 
not  liked  by  cattle,  although  they  are  well  known  to  be 
a  luxury  to  pigs. 

In  consequence  of  the  cattle  having  fallen  off  during 
the  time  in  which  they  were  fed  with  barley,  farina- 
ceous food  was  entirely  discontinued,  and  a  larger 
quantity  of  grass  was  substituted  previous  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  experiment  with  malt.  The  result 
of  this  experiment  is  at  once  observed  by  an  inspection 
of  the  table.  The  brown  cow  fell  off  in  the  amount  of 
butter  during  the  first  five  days,  but  increased  during 
the  remainder  of  the  trial.  The  white  cow  gave  a 
larger  quantity  of  butter  with  malt  than  with  barley. 
The  milk  of  both  cows  increased  very  considerably, 
while  the  weight  of  the  brown  cow,  which  had  de- 
creased with  the  barley  experiment,  began  to  increase 
under  the  influence  of  the  malt.  We  may  infer,  from 
the  results  of  this  experiment,  the  advantage  of  having 
a  large  portion  of  the  food  readily  soluble  and  adminis- 
tered into  the  stomach  of  animals  in  this  condition. 
The  amount  of  butter  would  appear  to  depend  more 
upon  this  provision  than  upon  the  quantity  of  matter 
soluble  in  ether  existing  in  the  food. 

The  mean  of  several  dryings  gave  the  composition 
of  the  dung, — water  86,  solids  14.  3840  grs.  of  malt 
bruised  gave  52*7  grs.  of  oil— 1'37  per  cent. 

8* 


90  ENTIRE    MALT    AS    FOOD. 

According  to  the  preceding  trials,  it  appears  that  the 
barley  and  malt  experiments  may  be  compared  as  fol- 
lows :— (See  Appendix  I.) 

I.  Milk: 

100  lbs.  of  hay  and  barley  produce 
100  lbs.  of  hay  and  malt  produce 
II.  Butter  : 

100  lbs.  hay  and  barley  produce    - 
100  lbs.  hay  and  malt  produce 


8 '41  lbs.  dry  milk, 

7-08 

ditto. 

1-82  lbs 

i.  butter. 

2-07 

ditto. 

Loss. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

2030 

1989 

41 

2044 

2022 

22 

III.  Weight  of  cattle  : 

Weight  of  cattle  before  barley  ex- 
periment - 
Weight  of  cattle  after      ditto 
"             "        before  malt  ditto 
"             "        after       ditto 

It  is  obvious  from  this  experiment  that  barley  pro- 
duced more  milk  than  malt,  even  although  it  was  only 
partially  digested  ;  that  malt  produced  a  little  more 
butter  ;  and  that  the  cattle  diminished  in  weight  in  both 
experiments  :  most  in  the  barley  experiment,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  considerable  quantity  of  it  being  thrown  out 
without  being  used  by  the  system. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe,  that  although  the  barley 
and  grass  contained  the  largest  amount  of  oil  and  wax, 
they  produced  a  smaller  proportion  of  butter  than  the 
malt  and  grass.  This,  however,  may  have  been  in  part 
owing  to  the  imperfect  extraction  of  the  solid  ingre- 
dients in  the  barley  experiments  in  consequence  of  the 
husks  remaining  entire.  The  experiment  is  one,  how- 
ever, from  which  no  deductions,  to  be  entirely  depended 
on,  are  to  be  made.  It  demonstrates  the  necessity  of 
cooking  barley,  more  especially  when  it  is  employed  to 


COMPOSITION    OF    FOOD    AND    DUNG. 


91 


feed  cattle.  (1)  8*96  grains  of  malt,  dried  at  the  tem- 
perature of  212°,  gave,  when  burned  with  chromate  of 
lead,  14*3  carbonic  acid  and  5*66  water.  (2)  7'86 
grains  gave  12*91  carbonic  acid,  and  5*01  water.  This 
corresponds  with,  per  cent : — 


Carbon 
Hydrogen  - 
Nitrogen    - 
Oxygen 
Ash  - 
Water 

I. 

ir. 

III. 

IV. 

43  93 
7-00 
1-50 

46-30 
1-27 

100- 

44-780 
7-060 
1-620 

44-763 

1-777 

119 

1-26 

42-44 
6-64 
111 

43-08 
1-68 
5-05 

100- 

1  100* 

Total  amount  of  constituents  of  food  and  dung,  of 
both  cows,  in  ten  days  :  — 


Food. 

Dung. 

Consump- 

Each per 

tion. 

Day. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

Carbon 

238- 

102- 

136- 

6-80 

Hydrogen 

32-2 

12-43 

19-77 

0-99 

Nitrogen 

906 

4- 

5-06 

0-25 

Oxygen 

214-88 

82-57 

13231 

611 

Ash      - 

34-22 

21-80 

12-42 

0-62 

14-77 

Experiment  IV. — Crushed  Barley  steeped  in  Boiling 

Water. 

As  it  appears  from  the  preceding  experiments  that, 
when  barley  was  given  in  an  entire  state,  a  considera- 
ble portion  of  the  grain  escaped  the  action  of  the  di- 
gestive organs,  in  consequence  of  the  interposition  of 
the  husk,  it  was  necessary  to  try  the  effect  of  the 
grain  as  an  article  of  food  after  it  had  been  mechan- 
ically bruised. 


92 


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ON    MILK    AND    BUTTER. 


97 


Experiment  VI. — Larger  Quantity  of  Crushed  Ba7*ley 
steeped  in  Boiling  Water. 

In  the  preceding  malt  experiment  the  amount  of 
grain  was  pushed  farther  than  in  the  case  of  barley  ;  it 
was  therefore  considered  advisable  to  give  a  similar 
trial  to  that  grain.  The  result  shows  that  no  advantage 
is  gained  by  the  administration  of  so  much  grain,  and 
that  a  deteriorating  effect  is  induced.  The  cause  of 
this  seems  to  depend  on  the  excess  of  nutritive  over 
caloriflent  food,  as  will  be  afterwards  explained. 

Comparison  of  Experiments  IV. ,  V.,  and  VI. 

I.  Milk. 

100  lbs.  of  mixed  barley,  hay,  and  grass  pro- 
duced 8*17  lbs.  milk.     (Appendix  I.) 

100  lbs.  of  mixed  malt  and  hay  produced  7*95 
lbs.  milk. 

II.  Butter. 

100  lbs.  barley,  hay,  and  grass  produced  1'95 

butter. 
100  lbs.  malt  and  hay  produced  1"92  butter. 

III.  Weight  of  cattle. 


Weight  of  cattle  before  barley  experiment 

—  after      —            — 

—  after  malt             — 

lbs. 
2022 
2111 
2069 

Gain. 

Loss. 

89 

42 

According  to  this  view  of  the  experiment,  it  appears 
that  the  malt  produces  a  smaller  amount  of  milk  and 
butter  when  combined  with  hay  than  in  the  barley  ex- 
periment, and  that  the  cattle  were  losing  weight,  and 


98  BARLEY    AND    MALT    AS    FOOD. 

consequent  strength,  daily ;  while  with  barley  they 
were  gaining  weight  daily.  In  whatever  manner, 
therefore,  we  view  the  experiment,  this  is  an  insur- 
mountable objection  to  the  use  of  malt, — that  it  is  not 
capable  when  used  in  any  quantity,  comparatively  with 
barley,  to  sustain  the  weight  and  consequent  strength 
of  animals.  But  there  is  another  aspect  in  which  the 
experiment  should  be  examined,  and  this  is  obviously 
the  correct  one,  since  a  larger  quantity  of  malt  was 
used  than  of  barley.  If  we  consider  the  hay  a  constant 
quantity,  and  then  calculate  the  amount  of  product 
which  would  comparatively  result  from  each  grain,  the 
consequences  would  be  as  follows,  (Appendix  I. :) — 

I.  Milk. 

100  lbs.  of  barley  would  produce  by  Experi- 
ment IV.  34*6  lbs.  dry  milk. 

100  lbs.  of  malt  would  produce  by  Experiment 
V.  26*2  lbs.  dry  milk. 

II.  Butter. 

100  lbs.  of  barley  would  produce  by  Experi- 
ment IV.  7*66  lbs.  butter. 

100  lbs.  of  malt  would  produce  by  Experiment 
V.  6'35  lbs.  butter. 

By  the  present  mode  of  comparison  then  it  appears 
that,  in  every  point  of  view,  malt  is  inferior  to  barley  as 
an  article  of  diet  for  cattle,  as  it  gives  less  milk  and 
butter,  and  diminishes  the  live  weight,  instead  of  in- 
creasing it,  which  barley  does  under  the  same  circum- 
stances. 

All  these  practical  results  are  explained  by  the  chemi- 
cal examination  of  the  barley  and  malt,  which  will  be 
subsequently  stated  and  discussed.     In  the  mean  time 


COMPOSITION    OF    BARLEY    AND    MALT. 


99 


it  may  be  sufficient  to  intimate  that  the  deductions  now 
made  from  the  practical  trials  are  in  exact  accordance 
with  experiments  conducted  in  the  laboratory.  The 
soluble  salts  are  much  diminished  in  the  malt,  and  hence 
a  larger  quantity  of  the  grain  would  be  required  than 
of  barley  to  produce  the  salts  of  a  given  amount  of 
milk.  The  quantity  of  nitrogen  is  inferior  to  that  in 
the  barley,  and  hence  malt  must  be  inferior  in  nutritive 
agency  to  the  barley,  in  comparing  equal  weights,  while 
the  quantity  of  sugar  being  greater,  the  amount  of 
butter  produced  might  be  equal  or  nearly  so  to  that 
formed  from  barley,  as  is  observable  in  some  of  the 
experiments. 

On  the  Chemical  Nature  of  Barley  and  Malt. 

From  the  nature  of  malting  it  might  be  expected  that 
a  considerable  difference  would  exist  between  barley, 
before  and  after  being  subjected  to  this  process. 

In  the  following  experiment  the  malt  was  made  from 
the  same  specimen  of  barley,  so  as  to  enable  a  tolerably 
correct  comparison  to  be  instituted. 

I.  Difference  in  ultimate  Composition. — The  barley, 
when  subjected  to  organic  analysis  with  chromate  of 
lead,  was  found  to  possess  the  following  composition  : — 


Carbon 

I. 

II. 

in. 

IV. 

41-64 

46-11 

Hydrogen  - 

6-02 

6-65 

Nitrogen     - 

1-81 

201 

1-91 

1-98 

1-95 

Oxygen       -       - 

37-66 

41-06 

Ash     -       -       - 

341 

4-17 

430 

3-27 

Water 

9-46 

100- 

100- 

The  first  column  exhibits  the  composition  of  the  bar- 


100 


COMPARATIVE    COMPOSITION    OF 


ley  in  its  natural  state  ;  the  second  represents  the  con- 
stituents of  the  barley  when  dried  at  the  temperature 
of  212°. 

Malt  from  the  same  barley  was  also  analyzed,  and 
the  following  result  obtained  : — 


Carbon 

Hydrogen  - 

Nitrogen     - 

Oxygen 

Ash      -       -       - 

Water 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

42-44 
6-64 
111 

43-08 
1-68 
5-05 

43-930 
7-000 
1-290 

46-510 
1-270 

44-78 
7-06 
1-26 

45-13 
1-77 

1-504 

1-62 

100- 

100-        |  100- 

In  the  first  column  we  have  the  composition  of  malt 
in  its  natural  state,  and  in  the  other  columns  its  con- 
stituents at  212°,  as  determined  by  two  analyses,  the 
first  column  being  calculated  from  the  third  column  or 
second  analysis,  founded  upon  the  determination  of  the 
amount  of  loss  sustained  when  the  grain  was  subjected 
for  some  days  to  the  heat  of  boling  water  in  a  water 
bath.  If  we  now  divide  the  constituents  of  barley  and 
of  malt  by  their  equivalents,  or  combining  proportions, 
we  shall  be  able  to  form  some  idea  of  the  change  which 
has  taken  place  in  the  barley  during  its  conversion 
into  malt.     The  following  is  the  result : — 


Barley 
Malt 


C.  H.  N.      O. 

123  106   2  82 
119  112   0  90 


Difference 


.5 


0  loss 
8  gain. 


If  we  consider  that  100  parts  by  weight  of  barley  are 
converted  by  the  process  of  malting  into  eighty  parts 


BARLEY    AND    MALT. 


101 


by  weight  of  malt,  we  shall  have  the  following  for- 
mulae : — 


Barley 
Malt 


C.  H.  N.  O. 

123  106  2  82 

90  85  0  69 

33  21  2  13  loss; 


and  the  barley  and  its  equivalent  amount  of  malt  will 
then  stand  as  follows,  per  cent.,  and  in  eighty  parts :— 


Carbon           _•___■_ 
Hydrogen     - 
Nitrogen       - 
Oxygen         - 

Ash 

Water  -         -                  - 

Barley. 

Malt. 

41-64 
6-02 
1-81 

37-66 
3-41 
9-46 

3395 
531 

0-88 

3446 

1-34 

4-06 

100- 

80- 

Hence  it  appears  that  four  equivalents  of  carbon  have 
disappeared  in  the  malting,  without  doubt  in  the  form 
of  carbonic  acid,  and  an  equivalent  of  nitrogen  has  also 
been  removed  in  the  shape  of  albumen,  possibly  in  part 
as  ammonia,  while  the  malt  contains  six  of  hydrogen 
and  eight  of  oxygen  in  excess  over  that  contained  in  the 
barley.  The  odd  atoms  of  oxygen  are  probably  an 
error  of  experiment ;  and  if  we  allow  this  then,  we  shall 
have  a  difference  in  the  malt,  in  the  fact  of  six  equiva- 
lents of  water  (6h.  6o.)  having  been  added  to  it  during 
the  malting  process  ;  and  this  admits  of  explanation 
from  the  circumstance,  that  one  of  the  important  altera- 
tions in  malting  consists  of  the  conversion  of  starch  into 
sugar.  Now  the  difference  between  starch  and  sugar 
is  simply  that  the  latter  contains  more  water  than  the 

9* 


J  02  IMPORTANCE    OF    NITROGEN    AS 

former,  the  composition  and  difference  of  these  sub- 
stances being  as  follows  : — 

C.  H.  O. 

Starch     -         -         -     12         10         10 
Sugar      -         -         -     12         12         12 


0  2  2  difference. 

II.  Difference  in  the  Amount  of  Nitrogen,  and  con- 
sequent Nutritive  Power  of  Malt  and  Barley. — In  the 
preceding  formulae  the  quantity  of  nitrogen  lost  has  been 
somewhat  exaggerated.  In  the  formulae  for  malt  the 
true  amount  of  nitrogen  approaches  nearly  1|  equiva- 
lent, or  1*4  ;  but  the  quantity  of  nitrogen  in  different 
parts  of  the  same  sample  of  malt  varies  very  remark- 
ably, indeed  to  such  a  degree  that  the  results  obtained 
by  three  analysts,  who  had  obtained  almost  identical 
numbers  for  the  nitrogen  in  barley,  differed  as  much  as 
from  1*19  to  1*62.  This  indeed  is  a  circumstance 
which  might  be  anticipated  from  the  nature  of  the  pro- 
cess of  malting,  and  is  one  which  renders  malt  a  very 
objectionable  substance  as  an  article  of  nourishment, 
since,  in  the  same  specimen,  different  portions  would 
vary  so  much  according  to  the  preceding  data,  as  that 
73  lbs.  of  one  part  would  produce  as  much  effect  in 
the  nourishment  of  an  animal  as  100  lbs.  of  another 
portion. 

If  we  estimate  the  albuminous  principles  of  grain  to 
contain  16  per  cent,  of  nitrogen,  then  the  amount  of 
these  substances  in  the  barley  examined  will  amount 
to  12*56  per  cent.,  while  the  percentage  of  these  prin- 
ciples in  the  malt  will  only  be,  by  the  lowest  estimate 
of  nitrogen,  7*43,  and  by  the  highest  result  it  will  be 
10.  So  that  the  relative  nutritive  powers  of  barley  and 
malt,  according  to  these  estimates,  will  be  as  follows  : 


A    NUTRITIVE    ELEMENT.  103 

59  barley  =  100  malt,  according  to  lowest  estimate. 
79     —     =  100  —  highest      — 

These  important  facts  render  it  also  obvious  that  the 
difference  in  the  amount  of  carbon  in  the  two  analyses 
of  malt  previously  given  may  not  have  risen  from  errors 
of  analysis,  but  from  a  difference  actually  in  the  consti 
tution  of  the  malt.  That  which  contained  the  largest 
amount  of  nitrogen  would  also  contain  the  greatest 
amount  of  carbon.  Indeed  it  may  be  looked  upon  as 
a  rule  with  reference  to  nutritive  bodies,  generally 
speaking,  that  their  power  of  sustaining  the  animal 
system  depends,  in  relation  to  their  ultimate  composi- 
tion, upon  the  amount  of  carbon  and  nitrogen  which 
they  contain.  Some  have  endeavored  to  prove  that  it 
is  the  amount  of  carbon  to  which  we  are  to  look  in  de- 
ciding upon  the  relative  nutritive  power  of  food,  while 
others  have  advocated  the  importance  of  nitrogen  in 
forming  such  estimates.  It  seems,  however,  certain, 
from  a  careful  study  of  all  the  facts,  that  such  general 
rules  cannot  safely  be  adopted,  since,  in  the  case  of  oils, 
we  have  examples  of  substances  containing  much  car- 
bon which  are  yet  incapable  of  supplying  the  waste  of 
the  muscular  substance  of  animals,  and  are  therefore  to 
be  excluded  from  the  rank  of  true  nutritive  principles  ; 
while,  again,  we  have  gelatine  or  jelly  containing  near- 
ly as  much  nitrogen  as  muscular  fibre  itself,  which  has 
been  proved  to  be  incapable  of  supporting  animal  exist- 
ence, in  the  manner  in  which  we  understand  that  ex- 
pression when  applied  to  beef  or  true  muscular  fibre. 
Dogs,  for  example,  have  been  made  to  live  for  months 
on  pure  albuminous  matter  ;  an  experiment  undoubted- 
ly somewhat  unnatural,  and  incapable  of  being  persist- 
ed in  for   any  more  considerable  period.     Again,  the 


104  IMPORTANCE  OF  NITROGEN. 

true  unsophisticated  American  Indians,  near  the  sources 
of  the  Missouri,  during  the  winter  months,  are  reported 
to  subsist  entirely  upon  dried  buffalo  flesh — not  the  fat 
portions,  but  the  muscular  part ;  and  during  this  period 
those  primitive  inhabitants  of  the  prairies,  as  they  are 
made  up  of  nomade  tribes,  every  man  being  at  war 
with  his  neighbor,  are  destitute  of  the  means  of  supply- 
ing themselves  with  vegetable  food,  as  they  have  no 
gardens,  nor  any  species  of  cultivation  ;  but,  more  par- 
ticularly during  their  subsistence  on  dried  pemmican, 
they  are  described  by  travellers  who  are  intimate  with 
their  habits  of  life  as  never  tasting  even  the  most  mi- 
nute portions  of  any  vegetable  whatever,  or  partaking 
of  any  other  variety  of  food.  These  facts,  then,  tend 
to  show  that  albuminous  tissue  is  of  itself  capable  of 
sustaining  life.  But  we  have  no  example  of  animals 
being  capable  of  subsisting  on  gelatine  or  glue  ;  on  the 
contrary,  we  have  proof  that  animals,  when  restricted 
to  the  use  of  this  species  of  matter,  become  deteriorated 
in  health.  In  the  mean  time,  therefore,  it  may  be  advi- 
sable to  admit,  that  we  are  unacquainted  with  the  exact 
position  gelatine  holds  in  the  nutritive  category,  and  to 
place  it  among  the  exceptions  to  the  nearly  general  fact, 
that  the  amount  of  nitrogen  is  an  important  element  in 
calculating  the  value  of  a  substance  as  a  nutritive  agent. 
When  we  reflect  that  animals  subsisting  upon  vegeta- 
ble food  contain  an  equal  quantity  of  gelatine  as  a  con- 
stituent of  their  tissues  with  those  which  have  partaken 
of  animal  food  alone,  we  can  scarcely  fail  to  conclude 
that  gelatine,  or  glue,  is  a  product  of  the  alteration  of 
albuminous  matter,  and  a  stage  in  its  downward  pro- 
gress to  the  state  of  urea,  or  an  ammoniacal  salt,  for  the 
purpose  of  being  removed  from  the  system  ;  and  hence, 


CARBON    CONSUMED    DAILY.  105 

that  it  is  not  capable  of  forming  the  muscular  or  highest 
order  of  animal  matter.  With  this  exception,  then,  we 
are  inclined  to  adopt  the  idea,  that  the  amount  of  car- 
bon and  nitrogen  present  in  a  substance  supplies  us 
with  one  of  the  data  for  calculating  its  capability  to 
supply  the  waste  of  the  muscular  system  of  animals, 
the  relation  of  the  two  substances,  to  constitute  an  effi- 
cient nutritive  substance  being  nearly  as  70  to  9  of  their 
equivalents,  represented  by  the  formula  70  C.  9  N.,  the 
relation  in  gelatine  being  nearly  as  66  C.  8f  N.  The 
first  formula  will  be  found  useful  for  practical  purposes  ; 
since,  when  we  have  determined  by  analysis  the  amount 
of  carbon  and  nitrogen  consumed  by  an  animal,  we  can 
distinguish,  by  dividing  the  respective  numbers  by  those 
of  the  formulae,  how  many  equivalents  of  the  total  car- 
bon are  associated  with  the  nitrogen,  and  employed  by 
the  animal  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  waste  of 
the  muscular  system,  or  by  bearing  in  mind  that  the 
relation  of  nitrogen  to  the  carbon  of  muscular  fibre  is 
as  16  to  53  nearly,  we  can  discover  the  amount  of  car- 

bon  united  to  the  nitrogen  by  the  simple  formula  . 

In  a  cow,  for  example,  consuming  per  day  7  lbs.  of  carbon 
and  I  lb.  of  nitrogen,  it  will  be  found  how  insignificant 
is  the  quantity  of  carbon  required  for  repairing  the  loss 

53  x  '25 

of  the  muscular  system,  '-1— — — =  0'828  lbs.     Hence 

we  see  that  6' 172  lbs.  of  carbon  of  the  daily  food  of  a 
cow  must  be  employed  for  a  purpose  totally  distinct 
from  proper  nutrition.  We  are  at  present  acquainted 
with  only  one  other  purpose  for  which  the  carbon  of  the 
food  can  be  employed,  viz.  for  the  generation  of  animal 
heat   throughout   the    body;    a  function    undoubtedly 


106  *      OXYGEN    CONSUMED    DAILY. 

carried  on,  not  only  in  the  kings,  but  also  throughout 
the  entire  capillary  system  of  the  skin,  at  least  in  man 
and  perspiring  animals.  If  this  view  be  correct,  then 
it  follows  that  upwards  of  6  lbs.  of  carbon  are  expended 
by  a  cow  daily  in  the  production  of  animal  heat.  And 
as  1  lb.  of  carbon,  when  combined  with  the  necessary 
amount  of  oxygen  to  form  carbonic  acid,  gives  out  as 
much  heat  as  would  melt  104*2  lbs.  of  ice,  it  is  evident 
that  the  quantity  of  ice  capable  of  being  melted  by  the 
heat  generated  by  a  cow  in  one  day  would  amount  to 
upwards  of  625  lbs.,  or  it  would  heat  1  lb.  of  water 
87,528°.  It  would  consume  at  the  same  time  the 
enormous  quantity  of  330429  cubic  inches  of  oxygen, 
or  191 1  cubic  feet  of  this  gas  ;  and  as  this  amounts  to 
one-fifth  of  the  atmospheric  air,  we  find  that  a  cow,  con- 
suming 6  lbs.  of  carbon  for  respiratory  purposes,  would 
require  956 I  cubic  feet  of  atmospheric  air,  a  sufficient 
indication  of  the  immense  importance  of  a  free  ventila- 
tion in  cow-houses,  and  of  the  danger  of  overcrowding, 
if  the  animals  are  expected  to  retain  a  healthy  condi- 
tion. It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  food,  destined 
for  the  purposes  of  respiration,  is  thrown  off  in  the  form 
of  carbonic  acid  as  soon  as  it  passes  into  the  circula- 
tion. On  the  contrary,  we  may  infer,  from  various  ex- 
periments, that  it  remains  for  some  time  in  the  system 
in  the  condition  of  preparatory  fuel,  if  we  may  so  speak, 
undergoing  during  that  period  certain  changes  neces- 
sary for  enabling  it  to  take  part  in  the  respiratory 
function. 

III.  Difference  in  the  Saline  Constituents  of  Barley 
and  Malt. — Barley. — The  amount  of  inorganic  matter 
existing  in  different  specimens  of  barley  varies  very 


SALTS    OF    BARLEY    AND    MALT."  107 

considerably.  This  might  be  anticipated  from  the  fact, 
which  is  now  generally  admitted,  that  the  azotized  or 
nutritive  principles  of  grain  or  seeds  bear  a  relation  to 
the  phosphoric  acid  present.  (Liebig.)  Thus,  if  the 
quantity  of  phosphoric  acid  in  barley  be  small,  it  will 
follow  that  the  amount  of  nitrogen  will  be  proportion- 
ally deficient,  and  that  the  nutritive  effect  of  the  grain 
will  be  comparatively  low  in  the  scale,  because  the  solu- 
bility of  the  albuminous  matters,  and  therefore  their 
capability  of  being  carried  into  plants,  appears  to  depend 
on  the  presence  of  the  phosphates.  In  the  analyses 
which  have  been  published  of  this  nature,  the  experi- 
menters have  omitted  to  state  whether  the  husks  were 
included  in  the  amount  of  grain  burned  by  them  ;  in 
the  following  results  the  omission  has  been  filled  up. 
In  the  three  last  experiments,  1000  grains  of  the  barley 
were  burned  ;  in  the  first,  the  amount  ignited  was 
about  fifty  grains,  but  the  ash  was  perfectly  white,  con- 
taining not  a  trace  of  charcoal. 

Flour.  With  husk. 

Barley  -     I.         II.  III.      IV.        V.         VI. 

Inorganic  matter, 

percent.      -4-17      3'87  3"27     3'20      3'02      2-70 

In  all  these  experiments  the  grain  was  dried  at  212°, 
and  each  number  represents  the  percentage  of  inorganic 
matter.  The  specimens  were  all  different,  but  the  first 
result  was  obtained  from  the  barley  used  in  the  experi- 
ments. These  numbers  differ  to  a  considerable  degree 
from  the  experiments  hitherto  published.  The  follow- 
ing are  such  as  have  come  in  our  way  with  reference 
to  the  per-centage  amount  of  ash  in  barley  : — 


108  SALINE    MATTER    IN 


I. 

II. 

1-80 

2-70 

Saussure. 

Koechlin 

The  first  of  these  specimens  was  probably  derived 
from  the  neighborhood  of  Geneva,  the  second  was  from 
Neufchatel,  near  the  lake  of  that  name  in  Switzer- 
land. 

The  following  was  found  to  be  the  per-centage  com- 
position of  the  ash  of  barley  : — 

Silica              ...         -         -  29-67 

Phosphoric  acid      -  36'80 

Sulphuric  acid         -         -         -         -  0*16 

Chlorine 015 

Peroxide  of  iron    -  0*83 

Lime     ------  3*23 

Magnesia 4*30 

Potash           -----  16-00 

Soda 8-86 

Some  chemists  have  found  no  alumina  in  the  ashes 
of  grain.  Boussingault  states  that  he  generally  finds 
traces,  and  in  this  respect  our  observations  agree,  and 
in  some  instances  the  quantity  has  appeared  almost  too 
considerable  to  be  accidental. 

Malt. — We  are  now  in  a  condition  to  compare  the 
influence  of  malting  on  the  saline  constitution  of  the 
barley.  In  this  respect  the  results  of  the  present  ex- 
periments corroborate  those  made  upon  the  amount  of 
nitrogen  contained  in  various  specimens  of  malt,  for  we 
find  that  the  quantity  of  saline  matter  varies  consider- 
ably, although  not  more  than  in  different  specimens  of 
barley ;  but  we  are  drawn  to  the  conclusion,  that  a 
substance  so  unequal  in  its  composition  in  reference  to 
the  proportion  between  the  soluble  and  insoluble  saline 


BARLEY    AND    MALT.  109 

ingredients  is  scarcely  to  be  recommended  as  a  food 
capable  of  producing  a  steady  effect.  The  following 
experiments  exhibit  the  amount  of  saline  matter  in  dif- 
ferent samples  of  malt  contained  in  100  parts  of  the 
grain  dried  at  212°  : — 

With  husk. 

I.  II.  III.  IV. 

2-38  2-66  2-43  2*46 

Table  of  the  Saline  Constituents  of  Malt.' — The  fol- 
lowing table  presents  the  results  of  careful  analyses  of 
the  ashes  of  malt : — 


I. 

II. 

III. 

Silica 

- 

28-74 

28-65 

28-98 

Phosphoric 

acid 

3534 

33-18 

34-65 

Chlorine 

- 

Trace 

0-36 

Peroxide  of 

iron 

1-59 

1-94 

1-72 

Lime 

- 

3-89 

513 

3-62 

Magnesia 

- 

9-82 

Potash   - 

- 

14-54 

11-72 

Soda 

- 

6-08 

4-90 

To  determine  the  nature  of  the  saline  ingredients 
removed  from  barley  in  the  malting  process,  it  was 
necessary  to  examine  the  solid  constituents  of  steep 
water.  For  this  purpose  several  gallons  of  steep  water 
were  evaporated  to  dryness,  and  yielded  about  half  its 
weight  of  organic  matter,  consisting  of  albumen  and 
sugar,  &c. 

100  grains  of  the  salt  containing  this  organic  matter, 
dried  at  212°,  afforded  '878  nitrogen,  which  is  equiva- 
lent to  5'49  per  cent,  of  albumen.  The  salts  consisted 
of  alkaline  phosphates,  carbonates,  sulphates,  and  chlo- 
rides. 

10 


110  EFFECT    OF    THE 

Effect  of  the  Process  of  Malting. — These  analyses 
afford  some  information  in  reference  to  the  process  of 
malting,  and  to  the  change  which  the  barley  undergoes 
by  this  operation.  One  of  the  most  striking  alterations 
produced  in  the  barley,  by  its  being  steeped  in  cold 
water  for  forty  hours  and  upwards,  is  to  diminish  its 
weight.  Equal  volumes  or  measures  of  barley  and 
malt  were  found  respectively  to  weigh  424  and  325 
grains.  This  would  give  us  100  parts  by  weight  of 
barley,  equivalent  to  76'65  of  malt;  but  as  barley  ex- 
pands slightly,  or  increases  in  bulk  by  steeping  and 
conversion  into  malt,  the  difference  between  the  two 
conditions  is  scarcely  so  considerable.  In  three  re- 
turns obtained  by  us  from  maltsters,  we  are  informed 
that — 1st,  27  cwt.  of  barley  become  22|-  of  malt,  or 
equivalent  to  100  barley  and  83 J  malt;  2d,  a  bushel 
of  barley  weighing  55  lbs.  becomes,  when  malted,  from 
43  to  45  lbs.,  or  equal  to  100  barley,  and  from  78*2  to 
82  lbs.  malt ;  3d,  a  bushel  of  barley  weighing  55  lbs. 
becomes  43  lbs.  when  malted,  or  as  100  to  78*2.  The 
mean  of  all  these  indicates  a  loss  which  the  barlev 
sustains  by  malting  of  nineteen  per  cent.,  and  upwards  ; 
or  the  loss  might  be  taken  approximately  at  twenty  per 
cent.,  or  one-fifth.  The  whole  of  this  loss  is  not,  how- 
ever, solid  matter ;  for,  according  to  our  trials,  barley, 
when  not  crushed,  contains  1 3'  1  per  cent,  of  water, 
and  malt  in  the  same  condition  7*06  per  cent,  of  water, 
capable  of  being  dissipated  at  the  temperature  of  212°. 
Hence,  of  the  nineteen  per  cent,  of  loss  sustained  by 
the  barley  in  malting,  six  per  cent,  is  water.  There 
thus  remain  therefore  only  thirteen  per  cent,  to  be 
ascribed  to  solid  loss.     The  quantity  of  saline  matter 


PROCESS    OF    MALTING.  Ill 

removed  from  the  barley  is  considerable.  A  mean  of 
several  trials  gives,  for  the  ash  of  barley,  three  per 
cent.,  and  for  that  of  malt  2"52  per  cent.  Now  as  100 
barley  are  equal  to  80  malt,  the  quantity  of  ash  which 
malt  should  contain  is  2*42,  if  the  loss  of  inorganic  and 
organic  matter  were  equable,  which  we  observe  it  to  be 
almost  approximately  from  this  experiment ;  for  the 
relation  of  the  ash  which  has  disappeared,  or  0*48  per 
cent.,  bears  almost  the  same  proportion  to  the  organic 
matter  also  removed  as  the  total  quantity  of  ash  in 
barley  does  to  the  total  organic  matter  of  that  grain. 
Thus  barley  contains  eighty-four  per  cent,  of  dry  or- 
ganic matter,  and  three  per  cent,  of  ash,  while  malt  has 
lost  0*48  per  cent,  of  ash,  and  12*52  of  organic  matter ; 
and  by  calculation  we  have — 

As     3  :  0-48  :  :  84  :   13-4; 

a  remarkable  coincidence,  as  if  proving  that  water  is 
incapable  of  removing  the  ash  of  plants  until  the  or- 
ganic matter  has  undergone  such  a  change  as  to  allow 
the  ash  to  separate.  We  have  thus  an  argument  in 
favor  of  the  subsistence  of  a  chemical  union  between 
the  inorganic  and  organic  matter  of  which  the  substance 
of  farinaceous  grain  is  composed.  Should  this  view 
be  well  founded,  the  amount  of  ash  in  grain,  we  might 
expect,  would  bear  a  constant  ratio  to  the  dry  organic 
matter  by  weight  in  whatever  soil  it  might  be  grown. 
It  would  also  follow  that  cold  water  will  not  take  up 
saline  matter  from  an  entire  seed  simply  by  washing 
or  slight  digestion. 

The  loss  sustained  by  barley  in  malting  may  perhaps 
be  stated  as  follows  • — 


112  EFFECT    OF    THE 

Water 6'00 

Saline  matter      -  0*48 

Organic  matter  -  12*52 


1900 


The  nature  of  the  saline  matter  removed  from  the 
barley  is  exhibited  in  the  analysis  of  steep-water  ash, 
although  it  is  not  so  easy  to  explain  the  source  of  some 
of  the  constituents.  We  observe,  in  the  first  instance, 
that  silica  has  been  removed  from  the  barley  ;  the  steep- 
water  ash  containing  about  2  per  cent,  of  silica.  That 
this  substance  is  united  with  potash  is  obvious  from  the 
gelatinization  which  occurs  when  hydrochloric  acid  is 
added  to  the  steep  salt.  The  origin  of  the  carbonic 
acid,  or  rather  its  condition  of  union,  is  not  so  apparent: 
it  might  be  attributed  to  the  impurity  of  the  water,  but 
the  presence  of  a  minute  amount  only  of  lime  opposes 
this  explanation.  The  water  used  in  the  steep  was  the 
Clyde  water,  which  contains  chalk  in  solution,  and  sul- 
phate of  lime.  To  this  source  the  sulphuric  acid  may 
owe  its  presence.  The  richness  of  the  steep  water  in 
alkaline  salts  suggests  its  employment  as  a  manure.  A 
considerable  part  of  the  organic  matter  of  the  barley  is 
dissipated  in  the  form  of  carbonic  acid,  but  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  albumen  and  sugar  is  also  dissolved  in  the 
water,  the  solution  of  the  albuminous  matter  being  pro- 
bably assisted  by  the  action  of  the  phosphates,  which 
are  capable  of  dissolving,  it  is  well  known,  some  of  its 
forms,  more  particularly  casein.  The  quantity  of  ni- 
trogen obtained  from  the  steep  salt,  when  evaporated 
and  dried  at  212°,  was  very  considerable,  being  equiv- 
alent to  five  and  a  half  per  cent,  of  albumen,  if  the 
whole  of  the  nitrogenous  matter  existed  in  the  form  of 


PROCESS    OF    MALTING.  113 

that  principle.  But,  besides  this  substance,  there  was 
present  also  a  large  quantity  of  other  organic  matter  in 
the  steep  solution,  since  the  steep  salt,  when  dried  at 
212°,  and  then  ignited,  lost  upwards  of  forty  per  cent, 
of  its  weight. 

The  views  which  we  have  been  discussing  of  the 
difference  in  the  chemical  composition  of  barley  and 
malt  are  sufficient  to  render  it  obvious  that  malt  is  a 
much  more  expensive  substance,  irrespective  of  duty, 
than  barley  for  feeding,  inasmuch  as  it  is  in  reality  bar- 
ley deprived  of  a  certain  portion  of  its  nutritive  matter 
and  salts.  The  only  advantage  which  it  seems  to  hold 
out  in  cattle  feeding  is  the  relish  which  it  gives  to  a 
mash ;  but  as  this  depends  entirely  upon  the  sugar 
which  it  contains,  and  which  has  been  produced  from 
the  starch  of  the  barley,  it  is  obvious  that  the  same 
flavor  may  be  imparted  by  the  addition  of  an  equivalent 
amount  of  molasses  or  sugar,  should  it  be  considered 
expedient.  But  we  believe  this  mixture  would  be  op- 
posed to  the  true  laws  of  dieting,  to  be  subsequently 
discussed  :  we  have  always,  however,  found  steeped 
barley  to  be  highly  relished  by  cattle.  Malt,  however, 
from  the  diastase  it  contains,  has  the  power  of  speedily 
converting  the  starch  of  barley  into  sugar  :  according 
to  Payen,  a  handful  of  malt  would  be  sufficient  to  sac- 
charize  several  pounds  of  barley  in  the  steep. 

10* 


114  EFFECT    OF    MOLASSES, 


CHAPTER  VII. 

EFFECT     OF    MOLASSES,     LINSEED,    AND    BEANS,    IN    THE 
PRODUCTION    OF    MILK    AND    BUTTER. 

MOLASSES    GIVES    LESS    MILK  AND  BUTTER  THAN  A  DIET  CONTAINING  MORE 

NITROGEN. LINSEED    GAVE  LESS  BUTTER  THAN  BEAN  MEAL,  ALTHOUGH 

CONTAINING  MORE  OIL,  PROBABLY  IN  CONSEQUENCE  OF  THE  CONSTI- 
TUENTS OF  BEANS  BEING  IN  THE  NATURAL  PROPORTION  TO  RESTORE 
THE    WASTE    OF    THE    ANIMAL    SYSTEM. 

The  following  experiments  were  instituted  for  the  pur- 
pose of  determining  the  effect  of  other  important  species 
of  food  to  serve  as  objects  of  comparison.  The  tables 
which  follow  include  the  result  experienced  by  feeding 
both  cattle  on  barley  and  molasses,  barley  and  linseed, 
and  on  bean  meal.  The  object  of  continuing  the  barley 
with  the  molasses  and  linseed  was  to  enable  an  appre- 
ciation to  be  more  readily  formed  of  the  effect  of  the 
substitution  of  one  kind  of  food  for  another,  without 
subjecting  the  animal  to  an  entire  change  of  diet.  This 
mode  of  procedure  was  suggested  by  physiological 
principles,  and  was  conducted  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  dieting  of  the  human  species.  The  experiments, 
however,  have  shown  that  attention  to  this  point  is  not 
so  indispensable  as  might  at  first  sight  appear,  since  a 
complete  change  of  food  is  often  followed  by  an  in- 
crease of  the  secretions  of  milk  and  butter. 


LINSEED,    AND    BEANS.  115 

For  steady  and  unwearied  assistance  in  the  whole  of 
these  experiments,  I  have  been  much  indebted  to  my 
intelligent  pupil,  Mr.  Hugh  B.  Tennent.  Most  of  the 
weighings,  &c.  of  food  were  made  by  us  conjointly, 
and  none  of  them  without  the  presence  of  one  or  both 
of  us. 


116 


BARLEY    AND    MOLASSES. 


Experiment  VII. — Barley  and  Molasses. 

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BARLEY    AND    LINSEED. 


Experiment  VIII. — Barley  and  Linseed. 

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EFFECT    OF     LINSEED,    MOLASSES,   AND    BEANS.      121 

From  the  three  preceding  tables  we  learn  the  follow- 
ing particulars  in  reference  to  the  milk  and  butter  of 
the  cows  : — 

I.  Milk:  lbs. 
1000  lbs.  of  hay,  barley,  and  molasses  produce 

of  dry  milk         --..-._  go-g 

1000  lbs.  of  hay,  barley,  and  linseed         -         -  84*5 

1000  lbs.  ditto  bean  meal  -         -  81'3 

II.  Butter  : 

1000  lbs.  of  hay,  barley,  and  molasses  produce 

butter         - -  2T9 

1000  lbs.  of  hay,  barley,  and  linseed        -         -  21*5 

1000  lbs.  ditto  bean  meal  -         -  225 

or,  considering  the  hay  a  constant  quantity,  then  we 
have  the  results  as  follows  : — 

I.  Milk:                                                         .  lbs. 

1000  lbs.  barley  and  molasses  produce  of  milk  237 

1000  lbs.       ditto       linseed              -  257 

1000  lbs.  bean  meal 252 

II.  Butter  : 

1000  lbs.  barley  and  molasses  produce  of  butter  64'5 

1000  lbs.       ditto       linseed    -  65*7 

1000  lbs.  bean  meal        -  70*0 

By  examining  the  4th  Table  in  Appendix,  we  ob- 
serve the  comparative  effect  of  linseed  and  beans,  during 
equal  periods,  in  producing  milk  and  butter.  In  the 
case  of  the  white  cow,  particularly,  the  results  are  quite 
unequivocal ;  for  while  during  five  days  the  milk  pro- 
duced by  beans  was  equal  to  the  mean  of  that  produced 
by  linseed  during  ten  days,  the  amount  of  butter  under 
the  bean  diet  was  greater  than  under  any  other  kind  of 
food  whatever.  This  is  an  important  fact  in  reference 
to  the  source  of  butter  in  the  food,  since  the  linseed 
meal,  employed  in  the  experiments,  contained  twice  as 

11 


122       EFFECT    OF    LINSEED    AND    T5EANS    AS    FOOD. 

much  oil  as  the  bean  meal.  In  the  brown  cow  also  the 
quantity  of  butter  was  greater,  especially  during  the 
second  five  days,  with  beans  than  with  linseed.  Mo- 
lasses produced  in  the  brown  cow  also  a  larger  quantity 
of  butter  than  the  linseed,  while  the  amount  was  slightly 
inferior  to  that  produced  by  the  beans.  These  facts, 
then,  are  not  agreeable  to  the  opinion  that  the  amount 
of  butter  afforded  by  a  cow  is  a  test  of  the  amount  of 
oil  contained  in  the  food  ;  and  hence  we  are  not  entitled 
to  recommend  oily  food  as  preferable  for  the  production 
of  butter  and  of  fat  in  animals  to  food  which  experience 
teaches  us  to  be  productive  of  this  effect,  although  less 
rich  in  oleaginous  matter.  Indeed,  the  constant  prac- 
tice of  giving  oil  cake  to  cattle  is  not  an  argument  in 
favor  of  the  importance  of  oil  in  the  formation  of  fat, 
since  from  oil  cake  as  much  of  the  natural  oil  of  the 
rape-seed  or  linseed  has  been  removed  by  expression 
as  mechanical  means  can  effect.  The  oil-cake  argu- 
ment is  so  much  the  more,  therefore,  calculated  to  re- 
fute the  objects  to  which  it  is  generally  applied. 

The  chemical  composition  of  the  linseed  and  bean 
meal  is  calculated  to  throw  some  light  on  the  causes 
of  the  differences  in  the  amount  of  products  in  the  ex- 
periments. The  following  table  represents  the  ultimate 
composition  of  linseed  and  bean  meal,  determined  by 
combustion  with  chromate  of  lead. 


AND    BEANS    AS    FOOD. 


123 


Table  of  ultimate  Composition  of  Linseed  and  Beans, 


Carbon     - 

Linseed. 

Beans. 

4251 

Dried  at 

212°. 

4076 

Dried  at 

212°. 

4955 

45-59 

Hydrogen 
Nitrogen 

622 

3-78 

7-26 
4-41 

413 

461 

Oxygen    - 

Ash          ... 

26-35 
6'94 

30-68 

8-10 

3-22 

396 

Water      ... 

14-20 

1060 

Table  of  the  Composition  of  the  Ash  of  Linseed  and 
Bean  Meal.     (Horse  Bean.) 


SiJica    ------ 

Linseed. 

Bean  Meal. 

34-85 

1312 

Phosphoric  Acid     -         -         -         - 

2522 

35 

26 

Sulphuric  Acid       - 

2-85 

1 

29 

Chlorine         - 

trace 

1 

75 

Lime 

695 

5 

18 

Peroxide  of  Iron    - 

323 

1 

80 

Magnesia       - 

8-04 

9 

03 

Potash 

16-85 

23 

15 

Soda     ------ 

2-22 

9-42 

The  great  preponderance  of  alkaline  salts  in  bear 
meal  is  observed  distinctly  in  its  incineration,  as  the  ash 
fuses  into  a  white  salt,  and,  if  care  is  not  taken,  will  en- 
close charcoal,  which  can  with  difficulty  be  burned 
away.  To  avoid  this  obstacle  the  meal  should  at  first 
be  burned,  with  free  exposure  to  air,  at  a  low  red 
heat. 

From  this  and  the  preceding  table  we  find  that  a 
given  weight  of  bean  ash  contains  a  much  larger  quan- 
tity of  phosphoric  acid  than  the  same  amount  of  linseed  ; 
but  as  the  ash  of  linseed  is  double  in  amount  to  that  of 


124  WAX    CANNOT    SUPPLY    BUTTER. 

the  beans,  there  is  present  a  larger  per-centage  of  phos- 
phoric acid  than  in  beans.  Linseed,  however,  contains 
a  large  quantity  of  silica  and  sand,  which  is  useless  to 
the  animal  system.  The  superior  influence  of  beans  in 
producing  milk  and  butter  is  attributable  to  the  consti- 
tuents of  milk  existing  with  proper  equilibrium.  They, 
therefore,  restore  the  waste  of  the  animal  system  in  the 
proper  proportions. 

The  present  tables  also  seem  to  prove  most  conclu- 
sively, that  the  butter  of  the  cows  cannot  possibly  be 
produced  from  the  wax  and  oil  of  the  food,  since  the 
greater  portion  of  the  wax  of  the  food  reappears  in  the 
dung,  (Table  I.  Appendix,)  being  expelled  from  the  ani- 
mal without  change  ;  while  the  butter  and  wax  of  the 
dung  greatly  exceed  all  the  oil  and  wax  of  the  food. 
From  these  circumstances  it  is  very  much  to  be  doubt- 
ed, whether  the  wax  of  hay  occupies  any  place  in  the 
production  of  the  fat  and  butter  of  animals.  In  all  the 
experiments  the  wax  of  the  dung  was  found  always  to 
vary  slightly,  so  that  it  seems  highly  probable  if  the 
whole  wax  had  been  extracted  from  the  dung,  it  would 
be  found  that  all  the  wax  of  the  food  was  excreted  by 
the  animals. 


QUANTITY    OF    MILK    PRODUCED,  ETC.  125 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

QUANTITY    OF    MILK    PRODUCED    BY    DIFFERENT   KINDS   OF    FOOD. EFFECT 

OF    GRASS    IN    PRODUCING    MILK. INFLUENCE    OF    VARIETY    OF   FOOD    ON 

MILK   AND   ON   MAN. ECONOMICAL  DISHES   FOR   THE   POOR. EFFECT   OF 

BARLEY    AND    MALT    ON    MILK. EFFECT    OF    MOLASSES,    LINSEED,    AND 

BEANS    ON    THE    PRODUCTION    OF    MILK. INFLUENCE    OF    QUANTITY    OF 

GRAIN    IN     THE     PRODUCTION     OF     MILK. RATE     AT     WHICH     FOOD     IS 

CHANGED     INTO     MILK. RELATIVE     INFLUENCE     OF     DIFFERENT     KINDS 

OF    FOOD    IN    THE    PRODUCTION    OF    BUTTER. 

We  cannot,  from  a  mere  statement  of  the  quantity  of 
the  produce  supplied  to  the  dairy  by  a  cow,  judge  of  the 
influence  of  any  particular  species  of  food  upon,  the 
animal,  in  consequence  of  the  number  of  incidental  cir 
cumstances  which  tend  to  interfere  with  the  natural  pro 
cesses  carrying  on  in  the  animal  system.  The  present 
series  of  experiments,  as  they  have  extended  over  a 
longer  period  of  time  than  any  which  have  previously 
been  presented  to  the  public,  will  tend  in  some  measure 
to  exhibit  irregularities  dependent  upon  the  conditions 
in  which  the  animals  existed,  and  probably  enable  some 
conclusions  to  be  drawn  explanatory  of  such  apparent 
anomalies.  It  may  be  convenient  to  direct  attention  to 
a  few  of  these  in  considering  some  of  the  general  con- 
clusions. 

I.  Quantity  of  Milk  produced  by  different  Kinds  of 
Food. — In  making  inquiries  respecting  the  amount  of 
milk  afforded  by  cows,  we  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  with 
the  vague  and  imperfect  manner  in  which  the  attention 

11* 


126  QUANTITY    OF    MILK 

of  agriculturists  is  directed  to  weighing  and  measuring. 
Thus,  for  example,  in  Scotland,  where  milk  is  generally 
reckoned  by  the  Scottish  pint,  when  this  measure  is 
compared  with  the  English  system  there  is  almost  uni- 
formly an  error  made  in  over-estimating  its  capacity. 
The  usual  allowance  is  four  English  to  one  Scottish 
pint ;  but  the  true  relation  between  these  measures  is 
much  inferior  to  this — the  English  or  imperial  pint 
having  a  capacity  of  34' 659  cubic  inches,  and  the 
Scottish  pint  of  103*4  cubic  inches,  a  Scottish  pint  is 
very  nearly  equal  to  three  English  pints.  When  meas- 
urements have  been  made  according  to  the  Scottish 
system,  a  certain  degree  of  caution  must,  therefore,  be 
exercised  in  converting  them  to  the  English  standard. 
Now,  as  in  Scotland  the  actual  measurements  are 
generally  made  with  the  Scottish  pints,  when  the 
amount  of  milk  is  stated  in  English  pints  we  may  almost 
safely  conclude  that  the  estimate  has  been  greatly  over- 
drawn ;  but,  even  taking  these  sources  of  error  into 
consideration,  it  is  very  remarkable  how  great  a  differ- 
ence exists  in  the  amount  of  milk  given  by  cows  under 
similar  circumstances.  No  one  will  be  surprised  at  the 
Alderney  cow  of  Mrs.  Tabitha  Bramble*  affording  a 
daily  supply  of  4  gallons  of  milk,  or  32  pints,  when  we 
read,  in  more  recent  times,  of  a  short-horn  giving  17 
Scottish  pints,  (51  imperial  pints,)  or  64^  lbs.,  at  10-J- 
lbs.  to  a  gallon  ;  and  of  a  roan  cow  yielding  30  Scottish 
pints,  (90  imperial  pints,)  or  1 15J  lbs.,  and  requiring  to 
be  milked  five  times  a  day,  so  that  at  each  milking  2\ 

*  "  I  am  astonished  that  Dr.  Lewis  should  take  upon  himself  to  give 
away  Alderney  without  my  privity  and  concurrants.  Alderney  gave 
four  gallons  a  day  ever  since  the  calf  was  sent  to  market." — Humphrey 
Clinker. 


PRODUCED    BY    COWS.  127 

gallons  must  have  been  extracted  from  the  animal,*  an 
average  allowance  for  one  cow  during  the  whole  day. 
All  these  statements  must  be  understood  as  referring  to 
cows  which  are  allowed  to  graze  at  least  during  the  day, 
and  must  be  viewed  as  extraordinary  cases.  A  nearer 
approach  to  an  average  will  be  obtained  by  directing 
attention  to  the  produce  of  an  Ayrshire  cow  fed  in 
Berwickshire,  which  yielded,  during  July  1845,  6-J- 
Scottish  pints,  (19^  imperial  pints,)  25  lbs.  ;  or  to  an 
Alderney  cow  in  Lancashire,  which  supplied  an  average 
amount,  in  June  1845,  of  20  imperial  pints  ==  25-J  lbs. ; 
but  even  in  such  instances,  which  are  taken  from  low- 
land pasture  grounds,  the  quantity  often  exceeds  this 
by  several  pints,  and  sometimes  also  falls  below  it  to 
the  same  extent,  without  any  very  apparent  cause.  In 
moorland  pastures  the  average  amount  of  milk  is,  how- 
ever, much  inferior  to  what  has  been  stated.  In  one 
locality  in  the  neighborhood  of  Glasgow,  where  many 
cows  are  kept,  the  supply  from  each  animal  does  not 
average  more  than  from  12  (15J  lbs.)  to  14  (18  lbs.) 
imperial  pints  per  day  ;  and  in  another  moorland  farm 
the  amount  varies  from  10  (12f  lbs.)  to  15(19  lbs.)  im- 
perial pints.  With  a  statement  of  these  data  for  com 
parison  we  are  enabled  to  form  an  idea  of  the  influence 
exercised  in  the  experiment  detailed.  When  the  cows 
were  at  pasture  in  Ayrshire  they  yielded  20  imperial 
pints  each  per  day,  (25 J  lbs.  ;)  then  they  were  in  full 
exercise,  and  without  any  restriction  in  the  amount  of 
their  food.  They  might  in  these  circumstances  be  rep- 
resented as  in  a  state  of  nature,  and  without  any  of  the 

*  If  the  old  Scotch  wine  measure  is  here  meant,  then  it  would  be 
equivalent  to  about  twelve  imperial  gallons. 
Stephens'  Book  of  the  Farm,  III.  1275. 


128  EFFECT    OF    GRASS    AND 

artificial  conditions  which  must  always,  to  a  certain 
extent,  interfere  with  the  animal  processes.  An  ani- 
mal enjoying  exercise  must  also  consume  a  larger 
amount  of  food  than  one  shut  up,  or,  in  other  words,  it 
must  convey  into  the  system  a  greater  quantity  of  ma- 
terial for  producing  milk  than  an  animal  in  a  state  of 
confinement. 

(1.)  Effect  of  Grass  in  producing  Milk. — For  seven 
days  after  coming  to  Glasgow,  where  they  were  con- 
fined in  a  roomy  and  airy  cowhouse,  and  fed  on  cut 
grass,  the  red  cow  (the  less  symmetrical  of  the  two 
animals)  gave  a  larger  amount  of  milk  than  when  at 
pasture  ;  the  greatest  quantity  of  milk  during  the  week 
being  27]-  lbs.,  and  the  smallest  amount  being  24£  lbs., 
the  mean  being  26|  lbs. ;  there  was  therefore,  in  this 
case,  a  decided  increase  in  the  amount  of  milk.  With 
the  other  cow  the  result  was  quite  different ;  the  quan- 
tity of  milk  appears  to  have  diminished  immediately 
with  the  confinement ;  the  mean  of  the  first  seven  days 
being  22f  lbs.  It  is  difficult  to  account  for  the  great 
difference  in  the  result  of  the  produce  of  the  two  ani- 
mals upon  any  other  supposition  than  that  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  one  admitted  of  confinement  with  less  detri- 
ment to  its  system  than  the  other.  The  causes  which 
have  been  previously  alluded  to  when  treating  of  the 
characters  of  the  animals  may,  probably,  also  supply  a 
solution  to  these  apparent  anomalies.  But  we  deduce 
the  important  inference  from  these  facts,  that  no  correct 
generalization  can  be  arrived  at  from  an  isolated  ex- 
ample. During  the  seven  remaining  days  of  the  ex- 
periment the  quantity  of  milk  fell  off  with  both  cows  : 
that  of  the  brown  cow  subsiding  from  a  mean  of  20* 


VARIETY  OF  FOOD  ON  MILK.  129 

lbs.  to  22}  lbs.,  and  that  of  the  white  cow  from  22£  lbs. 
to  20^-  lbs.  There  was,  altogether,  a  difference  in  the 
daily  amount  of  milk,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of 
the  fortnight,  in  the  case  of  the  brown  cow  of  4  lbs., 
and  in  the  white  cow  of  2  lbs.,  although  the  amount  of 
food  continued  the  same  throughout. 

(2.)  Influence  of  Variety  of  Food  on  Milk. — The 
considerable  falling-off  depended  undoubtedly,  in  some 
measure,  upon  the  confinement  to  which  the  animals 
were  subjected,  although  on  examining  the  tables  it 
will  be  found  to  be  a  pretty  uniform  result,  that  a  change 
of  food  produces  an  increase  in  the  quantity  of  milk, 
and  that  after  the  same  diet  has  been  continued  for 
some  days  the  milk  begins  to  diminish  in  amount. 
There  are  several  exceptions  in  the  tables,  some  of 
which,  however,  admit  of  simple  explanation.  In  the 
second  experiment,  which  was  made  with  entire  barley 
steeped,  the  quantity  of  milk  decreased  very  rapidly. 
In  the  case  of  the  brown  cow  there  wras  a  difference 
between  the  milk  of  the  first  and  last  day  of  the  experi- 
ment of  5  lbs.,  and  in  the  white  cow  of  2£  lbs.  This 
arose  from  a  quantity  of  the  barley  being  ejected  by  the 
animals  without  being  digested.  Entire  malt  being 
given  raised  the  amount  of  milk  immediately,  and  the 
quantity  continued  to  rise  daily  till  it  amounted  at  the 
end  of  the  trial,  in  the  case  of  the  brown  cow,  to  an 
increment  of  the  last  over  the  first  day's  milk  of  3  lbs., 
and  in  the  white  cow  of  4  lbs.  We  can  see  at  once 
why  there  was  an  improvement  under  the  malt  regi- 
men, from  the  circumstance  that,  being  much  more 
soluble  than  the  barley,  it  was  not  ejected  by  the  ani- 
mals ;  indeed,  none  of  it  was  observable  in  the  dung, 


130  INFLUENCE    OF    VARIETY 

while  a  considerable  proportion  of  barley  was  always 
carried  to  the  dung-heap.  The  second  and  third  ex- 
periments do  not  serve  to  prove  any  point  in  reference 
to  the  dietary  of  animals,  but  they  may  be  useful  as 
evidence  to  show  that  the  more  divided  the  food  is,  the 
greater  is  the  amount  of  milk  produced.  In  the  fourth 
experiment,  with  crushed  barley,  the  brown  cow's  milk 
decreased  li  lbs.  in  sixteen  days,  and  the  white  cow's 
10  oz.,  or  considerably  more  than  half  a  pound,  in  the 
same  period.  In  the  fifth  experiment,  with  crushed 
malt,  the  brown  cow's  milk  declined  2i  lbs.  in  sixteen 
days,  and  the  white  cow's  upwards  of  2|  lbs.  In  the 
sixth  experiment,  with  a  larger  quantity  of  crushed 
barley,  the  brown  cow's  milk  continued  to  increase  up 
to  the  fourth  day,  and  then  began  to  decline  ;  a  similar 
result  attended  that  of  the  white  cow.  In  the  seventh 
experiment,  with  molasses  and  barley,  the  brown  cow's 
milk  reached  its  acme  or  culminating  point  on  the 
second  day  of  the  trial,  and  it  then  continued  to  decline 
till  the  close  of  the  experiment  on  the  tenth  day.  With 
the  white  cow,  the  greatest  amount  of  milk  was  afforded 
on  the  fifth  day,  when  it  began  to  decline  and  gradually 
diminish  till  the  termination  of  the  trial.  In  the  eighth 
experiment,  made  with  barley  and  linseed,  the  amount 
of  milk  continued  to  increase  for  a  longer  period  than 
usual ;  the  largest  quantity  given  by  the  brown  cow 
was  on  the  ninth  day,  and  by  the  white  on  the  eighth 
and  ninth  days.  With  the  bean  meal,  in  the  ninth  ex- 
periment, the  milk  continued  to  increase  up  to  the  fifth 
day,  when  the  trial  closed.*  That  a  change  of  diet  is 
necessary  for  animals  which  are   kept   in   a  confined 

*  See  Diagram,  and  Miscellaneous  Table  No.  IV. 


ON    MILK    AND    ON    MAN.  131 

condition  is  proved  by  the  tables  previously  given,  in  a 
striking  manner,  and  the  results  now  obtained  amply 
sustain  the  idea  supported  by  me  some  time  ago  in 
reference  to  the  dietary  of  human  beings  shut  up  in 
poor-houses  and  places  of  confinement.  It  was  then 
argued  that,  "in  order  to  retain  the  human  constitution 
in  a  healthy  condition,  variety  of  food  should  be  prop- 
erly attended  to,"*  and  different  species  of  diet  were 
suggested  as  well  calculated  to  supply  a  series  of  dishes 
to  the  poor.  In  the  Asylum  for  the  Houseless,  and  in 
the  House  of  Refuge  at  Glasgow,  the  recommendations 
were  followed  out ;  and,  according  to  the  report  of  the 
treasurer,  Mr.  Liddell,  the  dinner  meals  being  varied 
two  or  three  times  every  week,  "  the  change  in  the 
dietary  routine  is  much  relished  by  the  inmates,  and 
may  have  had  some  effect  in  the  greater  degree  of 
health  which  has  been  evident  among  them  of  late."f 

*  Proceedings  of  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Glasgow,  p.  39. 
t  Proceedings  of  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Glasgow,  vol.  i.  p.  40. 
The  following  economical  and  wholesome  dishes  are  formed  on  the 
principles  enunciated,  and  are  used  in  the  public  charities  of  Glasgow 

Fish  Pudding  for  Ten  Persona. 

Quantity  Quantity 

for  One.  for  Ten. 

2  lbs.  0  oz.        20  lbs.  0  oz.  potatoes,  at  \d.  per  lb. 

0         8  5         0         salt  fish,  at  2d.  per  lb. 

0         0-£  0         2£       lard  or  dripping,  at  Sd.  per  lb. 

pepper      .... 

2         84  25         2i 


s. 

d. 

0 

5 

0 

10 

0 

H 

0 

o* 

1 

5 

Cost,  exclusive  of  fire  and  cooking,  under  lfc?.  per  head.  Steep  and 
boil  the  fish  as  long  as  the  saltness  and  size  of  the  article  to  be  used  re- 
quires, take  out  the  bones,  boil  the  potatoes  in  a  separate  vessel,  beat 
the  whole  together.  If  a  fire  or  oven  can  be  had,  brown  the  top  of 
the  dish. 


132  VARIETY    OF    FOOD. 

The  analogy  subsisting  between  the  physical  nature 
of  human  beings  and  of  many  of  our  domestic  animals 
would  lead  us  to  the  conclusion,  upon  physiological 
grounds,  that  their  dietary  should  be  conducted  upon 
precisely  similar  principles.  To  prove  this  by  exact 
experiments  is  a  point,  it  will  be  admitted,  of  consider- 
able importance  to  the  agriculturist,  although  it  may 
have  been,  as  might  be  expected,  surmised  by  many 
intelligent  observers.  Not  only,  however,  is  variety 
of  food  requisite  for  an  animal  in  an  artificial  state,  it 
is  found  also  to  be  beneficial  to  one  in  a  condition  more 
akin  to  that  of  nature.     For  it  is  upon  this  principle 

A  Stewed  Hash  of  Sheep's  Draught  for  Ten  Persons. 

Quantity  Quantity 

for  One."  for  Ten.  s.       d. 

2  lbs.  0  oz.      20  lbs.  0  oz.  potatoes,  at  \d.  per  lb.  -  -     0       fl 

0         5^  3         8         two  sheep's  draughts,  5d.  each        -     0     10 

0         0  0         8         onions,  Id. ;  pepper,  salt,  and  flour,  2d.  0       3 

2         5J         24         0  16 


Cost,  exclusive  of  fire  and  cooking,  full  \\d.  per  head.  Boil  the 
lights  for  one  hour,  preserving  the  water ;  hash  said  lights,  liver,  and 
heart  together  with  flour,  pepper,  salt,  and  onions  ;  then  stew  the  whole 
for  one  hour,  using  the  water  in  which  the  lights  were  boiled.  The 
boiling  and  stewing  should  be  done  over  a  very  slow  fire. 

A  Mince  of  Coio's  Heart  for  Ten  Persons 

Quantity  Quantity 

for  One.  for  Ten.  s.       d. 

2  lbs.  0  oz.      20  lbs.  0  oz.  potatoes,  at  \&.  per  lb.    -         -         -     0       5 

0         4  2         8         half  a  heart,  Is.  6d.        -         -         -09 

0         0  0         8         onions,  Id.;  pepper,  salt,  and  flour,  Id.  0       2 


1 


Cost,  exclusive  of  fire  and  cooking,  full  l^d.  per  head.  Cut  up  and 
wash  the  heart  well.  Mince  it  very  small,  using  onions,  flour,  pepper, 
and  salt.     Stew  the  whole  over  a  slow  fire  for  two  hours. 


EFFECT  OF  BARLEY  AND  MALT.         13,3 

that  we  are  able  to  account  for  the  superior  influence 
of  old  natural  pastures,  which  consist  of  a  variety  of 
grasses  and  other  plants,  over  those  pastures  which  are 
formed  of  only  one  grass,  in  the  production  of  fat  cattle 
and  good  milk  cows.  To  any  one  who  considers  with 
attention  the  experiments  which  have  been  detailed, 
there  cannot  remain  a  doubt  in  the  mind  that  cattle, 
and  especially  milk  cows,  in  a  state  of  confinement 
would  be  benefited  by  a  very  frequent  and  entire 
change  in  their  food.  It  might  not  be  too  much  to  say 
that  a  daily  modification  in  the  dietary  of  such  animals 
would  be  a  sound  scientific  prescription.  The  effect 
of  variety  of  food  is  exhibited  in  the  frontispiece.  In 
considering  the  case  of  the  white  cow,  wTe  find  that  a 
change  from  barley  to  barley  and  molasses  increased 
the  milk  in  three  days  from  21  lbs.  6  oz.  to  23  lbs.  7  oz. ; 
on  changing  from  malt  to  barley  it  increased  from  19 
lbs.  10  oz.  to  20  lbs.  11  oz.  on  the  first  day ;  from  bar- 
ley to  barley  and  linseed,  it  increased  from  21  lbs.  2oz. 
to  23  lbs.  12  oz.  on  the  sixth  day  ;  from  barley  and  lin- 
seed to  beans,  it  increased  on  the  first  day  from  21  lbs. 
13  oz.  to  23  lbs.  14  oz.  Some  of  these  changes  can 
be  traced  in  the  diagram  placed  as  a  frontispiece,  while, 
at  the  same  time,  we  obtain  from  it  a  distinct  view  of 
the  relative  influence  of  the  different  species  of  food  in 
keeping  up  a  great  or  regular  supply  of  milk. 

(3.)  Effect  of  Barley  and  Malt  on  Milk. — In  con- 
sidering the  influence  of  barley  and  malt  on  the  pro- 
duction of  milk,  it  is  obvious  that  Experiments  II.  and 
III.  offer  no  data  from  which  conclusions  can  be  drawn, 
except  to  point  out  the  useful  practical  fact,  that  grain 
should  never  be  given  to  cows  in  an  entire  state,  but 

12 


134  INFLUENCE  OF  BARLEY  AND 

that  it  should  always  be  ground  or  crushed,  and  then 
steeped  before  being  presented  to  them.  If  we  com- 
pare experiments  IV.  and  V.,  we  find  that  in  sixteen 
days  141  lbs.  of  crushed  barley  steeped  produced  in 
the  brown  cow  342  lbs.  of  milk,  and  in  the  white  351 
lbs.  of  milk,  and  that  both  animals  gained  in  weight ; 
while,  again,  168  lbs.  of  malt  produced  in  the  brown 
cow  310  lbs.  of  milk,  and  in  the  white  345  lbs.  of  milk, 
during  sixteen  days  ;  the  former  cow  gaining  some 
weight,  and  the  latter  losing  a  little.  The  quantity  of 
malt  exceeded  that  of  the  barley  by  27  lbs.,  and  yet 
the  brown  cow  gave  32  lbs.  less  of  milk  with  malt  than 
with  barley,  and  the  white  cow  only  6  lbs.  less  milk  ; 
hence,  in  the  brown  cow  100  lbs.  of  barley  produced 
as  much  effect  as  131  lbs.  of  malt,  and  in  the  white 
cow  100  lbs.  of  barley  were  equivalent  to  119  lbs.  of 
malt.  Now,  as  100  parts  of  barley,  when  malted,  be- 
come eighty  of  malt,  it  is  obvious  that  100  parts  of 
barley  are  equal  in  value  to  125  of  malt,  for  80  :  100 
::  100  :  125.  If  we  take  the  mean  of  the  result  of  the 
preceding  experiment,  wTe  find  that  100  of  barley  go  as 
far  in  producing  milk  as  125  of  malt,  1 19-j-l 31-4-2 
=  125.  Again,  by  a  mean  of  three  experiments,  the 
amount  of  nitrogen  in  malt  was  found  to  be  1*52  per 
cent.,  and  that  of  barley  1*96  per  cent.,  by  four  experi- 
ments, which  would  make  100  parts  of  barley  equiva- 
lent to  128  of  malt  in  nutritive  power.  These  are  all 
remarkable  coincidences  of  theory  and  practice,  and 
cannot  fail  to  convince  us  that  the  proportions  stated 
are  very  close  approximations  to  the  nutritive  equiv- 
alents of  barley  and  malt,  or,  in  other  wrords,  that  malt 
is  about  one-fifth  inferior  to  barley  in  its  nutritive  effects. 
In  considering  the  sixth  experiment,  which  was  made 


ma.lt  on  milk.  135 

for  the  purpose  of  comparing  the  effect  of  a  large  quan- 
tity of  barley  with  a  large  amount  of  malt,  it  will  be 
observed,  that  the  experiment  commenced  when  the 
amount  of  milk  was  declining  under  the  malt  regimen, 
but  that  as  soon  as  the  barley  was  given  the  milk  began 
to  increase  in  both  cows.     The  weather,  however,  at 
this  time,  became  much  warmer  than  it  had  hitherto 
been.    The  mean  temperature,  as  exhibited  in  the  table, 
became  more  elevated  ;  but  the  numbers  in  the  table 
will  scarcely  give  an  idea  of  the  stagnant  sultry  nature 
of  the  atmosphere  in  the  cowhouse,  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  which,  in  a  room  without  a  fire,  the 
thermometer  during  the  five  days  stood  at  66°,  and  at 
one  period  of  the  thirtieth,  or  first  day  of  the  experiment, 
rose  to  70°.     The  cattle  were,  during  this  period,  very 
much  troubled  with  flies,  which  produced,  as  all  agri- 
culturists will  understand,  much  agitation  and  constant 
movement.     These  circumstances  are  calculated  to  ex- 
plain the  loss  of  weight  sustained  by  the  brown  cow, 
and  they  account  for  the  fact  that  the  increase  of  milk 
was  not  so  rapid  as  in  the  previous  barley  experiment. 
This  experiment  may  be  viewed  as  an  interesting  ex- 
ample  of  the   influence   which   atmospherical   causes 
exercise  upon  the  production  of  milk,  and  exhibits  a 
result  perfectly  in  accordance  with  the  experience  of 
good  agricultural  observers.     From  the  circumstances 
mentioned  it  is  obvious  that  this  experiment  should  not 
be  taken  apart  from  the  previous  barley  trial,  since  the 
conditions  were  somewhat  different  under  which  it  was 
made  ;  but  we  have  employed  it  along  with  the  other 
trial  in  striking  an  average,  as  in  Miscellaneous  Table 
No.  IV.     Another  effect  which  came  into  operation  in 
this  experiment  I  believe  to  be,  that  the  quantity  of 


136  EFFECT    OF    MOLASSES,    LINSEED, 

barley  was  too  great,  and  that  more  nutritive  matter 
was  given  in  proportion  to  the  heat-producing  matter 
than  was  fitted  for  the  support  of  the  system,  and  thus 
gave  occasion  to  a  deteriorating  action. 

(4.)  Effect  of  Molasses,  Linseed,  and  Beans  in  the 
Production  of  Milk. — If  we  examine  the  Miscellaneous 
Table  No.  IV.,  we  find  the  mean  quantity  of  milk 
afforded  by  the  brown  cow,  every  five  days  under  dif- 
ferent regimens,  was  as  follows  :— Barley,  107  lbs.; 
malt,  97  ;  barley  and  molasses,  101  ;  barley  and  linseed, 
102^;  beans,  99f.  And  by  the  white  cow  the  mean 
quantities  respectively  were,  every  five  days,  barley, 
109  lbs.;  malt,  108^;  barley  and  molasses,  112-J-; 
barley  and  linseed,  115J;  beans,  lloyV  Of  all  these 
articles  of  food,  in  both  cases,  malt  gives  the  smallest 
produce.  Then  comes,  with  the  white  cow,  barley, 
and  the  other  articles  increase  in  effect  as  they  stand 
above,  bean  meal  affording  the  greatest  amount  of 
produce.  It  will  be  observed,  in  examining  the  bean 
meal  table,  that  the  milk  increased  up  to  the  termina- 
tion of  the  experiment ;  and  that  in  the  case  of  the 
white  cow,  the  quantity  yielded  exceeded  that  supplied 
by  this  animal  on  any  previous  occasion,  except  in  one 
solitary  instance  under  the  grass  diet.  The  quantity 
of  milk  given  by  the  white  cow  on  the  18th  September, 
under  the  bean  regimen,  amounted  nearly  to  25J-  lbs., 
thus  approaching  closely  to  that  afforded  by  both  cows 
when  they  were  at  pasture  three  months  previously. 
This  cannot  fail  to  be  admitted  as  an  interesting  fact, 
and  is  strongly  corroborative  of  the  propriety  of  the 
partiality  of  cow-feeders  for  bean  meal  as  an  article  of 
nutrition  for  their  stall-fed  cattle.     If  we  take  a  mean 


AND    BEANS    ON    MILK.  137 

of  the  produce  of  the  two  cows,  as  previously  stated, 
we  shall  find  the  relative  influence  of  each  in  the  pro- 
duction of  milk  to  be  as  follows  : — Commencing  with 
that  which  possesses  the  lowest  nutritive  power,  malt 
produces  1 02"66  lbs.  of  milk ;  barley  and  molasses,  1 06f ; 
bean  meal,  107'68;  barley,  108;  barley  and  linseed,  109. 
We  think  it  better  to  state  the  mean  produce  of  the 
two  cows,  because  it  will  afford  an  average  of  what  we 
might  expect  to  meet  with  in  feeding  a  number  of  cattle 
with  these  various  articles  of  food.     A  comparison  of 
the  experiments  on  the  two  cows,  however,  fully  de- 
monstrates that  one  kind  of  food  will  produce  a  greater 
influence  on  one  animal  than  on  another ;  and  that,  as 
with  human  beings,  probably,  attention  should  be  be- 
stowed on  what  is  agreeable  to  each  individual  animal, 
both  in  reference  to  its  palate  and  constitution.     For  it 
should  be  always  borne  in  mind  that  stall-fed  animals 
are  not  in  a  natural  condition,  and  that  being  placed 
under  artificial  restrictions,  a  due  consideration  of  the 
adequate  means  of  counterbalancing  the  adverse  cir- 
cumstances of  their  condition  can  alone  conduce  to  a 
true  theory  of  humane  stall-feeding. 

(5.)  Influence  of  Quantity  of  Grain  in  the  Produc- 
tion of  Milk. — To  ascertain  the  amount  of  grain  best 
calculated  to  afford  the  largest  supply  of  milk  is  a  prac- 
tical point  of  no  small  importance  to  the  cow-feeder. 
Perhaps  from  Miscellaneous  Table  No.  IV.  the  best 
solution  to  this  question  may  be  obtained,  in  reference 
to  the  articles  of  food  employed  in  the  present  series 
of  experiments.  In  the  barley  experiment  it  will  be 
observed,  that  when  12  lbs.  of  barley  were  given  daily, 
.ne  amount  of  milk  was  inferior,  in  both  cows,  to  tha: 

I  o* 


138  RATE    AT    WHICH    FOOD 

obtained  when  9  lbs.  was  the  diurnal  allowance.  This 
result  seems  so  decided,  in  both  series  of  experiments, 
that  it  may  almost  be  considered  as  established,  that 
no  adequate  advantage  appears  to  be  attained  by  push- 
ing the  supply  of  barley  to  a  cow  beyond  the  extent  of 
9  lbs.  daily.  An  increase  in  the  quantity  of  malt  ap- 
pears sometimes  to  increase  the  quantity  of  milk  ;  but, 
in  general,  the  same  deduction  may  be  made  with  ref- 
erence to  malt  as  to  barley,  that  in  a  remunerative  point 
of  view,  9  lbs.  a  day  may  be  considered  a  larger  pro- 
portion of  malt  to  supply  a  cow.  It  is  highly  probable, 
indeed,  that  a  smaller  amount,  especially  if  the  animals 
were  allowed  a  certain  limited  degree  of  exercise, 
would  be  found  fully  as  efficient  as  a  larger  quantity. 
We  have,  in  the  body  of  the  report,  endeavored  to  ex- 
plain this  upon  the  physiological  principles  of  digestion, 
and  to  show,  that,  as  ruminating  animals  more  espe- 
cially are  possessed  of  great  capacity  of  stomach,  an 
excess  of  concentrated  food,  by  failing  to  effect  ade- 
quately the  purpose  which  bulky  food  accomplishes — 
of  exciting  the  coats  of  the  stomach  to  secrete  their 
digesting  fluid — will  tend  rather  to  diminish  than  to  in- 
crease the  result  which  we  desire  to  gain. 

(6.)  Rate  at  ivhich  Food  is  changed  into  Milk. — As 
a  variety  of  views  prevail  with  regard  to  the  period  re- 
quired by  the  animal  system  for  the  conversion  of  food 
into  milk,  I  endeavored  to  solve  this  question  by  keep- 
ing an  accurate  register  of  the  amount  of  milk  supplied 
by  a  cow,  morning  and  evening.  From  this  register  it 
appears,  that  in  the  course  of  a  month,  the  brown  cow 
gave  the  largest  amount  of  milk  in  the  evening  only  6 
tirres,  while  the  white  cow  was  in  the  same  condition 


IS    CHANGED    INTO    MILK.  139 

only  3  times.  Itmay  be  considered  therefore  certain, 
during  these  experiments,  that  as  a  general  rule  the 
greatest  quantity  of  milk  was  yielded  by  the  cows  in 
the  morning.  An  example,  taken  at  random  from  the 
register  of  the  white  cow's  milk,  will  show  the  force  of 
this  observation  : — 

Food. 
Aug.  1.  Barley  and  hay 


Milk 

. 

lbs. 

oz. 

drs. 

morning 

11 

8 

15 

evening 

10 

3 

14 

morning 

11 

7 

1 

evening 

9 

11 

9 

morning 

11 

10 

15 

evening 

9 

11 

9 

morning 

10 

14 

5 

evening 

9 

11 

3 

morning 

11 

4 

10 

evening 

10 

4 

8 

morning 

12 

5 

7 

evening 

10 

10 

11 

4.  — 

5.  Barley,  molasses,  and  hay, 

6.  — 


Now,  as  comparatively  a  small  amount  of  food  is  con- 
sumed during  the  night,  it  is  obvious  that  this  superior 
amount  of  milk  must  be  derived  from  the  previous  day's 
fodder.  An  observation  which  was  frequently  made, 
viz.  that  undigested  food  did  not  appear  in  the  dung  till 
sixteen  hours  after  being  swallowed,  would  tend  to  de- 
monstrate that,  during  this  period  at  least,  absorption 
of  the  nutritive  part  of  the  food  was  going  on  ;  since  we 
know  that  along  the  whole  course  of  the  intestinal  canal 
the  soluble  food  continues  to  be  taken  up  through  the 
coats  of  the  viscera. 

II.  Relative  Influence  of  different  Kinds  of  Food 
in  the  Production  of  Butter. — In  the  Table  IV.  (Appen- 


140  SOURCE    OF    BUTTER. 

dix)  we  have  collected  the  amount  of  butter  produced 
by  five  kinds  of  food  during  periods  of  five  days  each. 
But  previous  to  these  trials,  thus  arranged,  the  largest 
quantity  given  by  the  brown  cow  was  under  the  grass 
regimen.  The  first  five  days  of  the  experiment  yielded 
4'93  lbs.  of  butter,  after  which  the  quantity  diminished 
to  the  last  five  days  of  the  trial,  when  the  quantity 
yielded  amounted  to  3*75  lbs.,  a  proportion  not  supe- 
rior to  what  was  produced  in  some  of  the  subsequent 
experiments.  The  same  law  does  not  appear  to  hold 
with  reference  to  the  diminution  of  the  butter  as  per- 
tains to  that  of  the  milk,  when  the  food  has  been  con- 
tinued for  some  time.  We  find,  on  the  contrary,  fre- 
quently the  amount  increasing  towards  the  close  of  the 
experiment,  even  when  it  is  continued  for  ten  or  fifteen 
days.  The  largest  amount  of  butter  was  afforded  in 
the  brown  cow  by  crushed  barley.  During  the  third 
series  of  five  days  the  amount  was  3935  lbs.  ;  bean 
meal  gave  the  next  greatest  quantity  369  lbs.  in  five 
days  ;  then  comes  barley  and  linseed,  3'689  lbs.  during 
the  first  five  days  ;  barley  and  molasses,  3*63  lbs.,  and 
malt  3" 60  lbs.  In  the  case  of  the  wThite  cow  the  quan- 
tity was,  beans,  3*76  ;  barley  and  linseed,  3*421  ;  crush- 
ed barley,  3*376  lbs.  ;  barley  and  molasses,  3'26  ;  and 
malt  3' 126.  With  both  animals  we  observe  that  malt 
is  lowest  in  the  scale,  a  fact  which  seems  in  some 
measure  to  militate  against  the  idea  of  the  origin  of 
the  butter  being  in  the  sugar  of  the  food.  Be  this  as  it 
may,  however,  although  there  are  many  counter  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  the  opinion  that  sugar  affords  such  a 
supply,  wre  think  the  Tables  II.  and  III.  (Appendix) 
tend  to  show  that  there  is  no  relation  between  the  but- 
ter of  the  milk  and  the  wax  and  oil  of  the  food  ;  since 


SOURCE    OF    BUTTER.  141 

frequently,  when  the  oleaginous  matter  of  the  food  is 
small,  the  butter  is  more  considerable  than  on  other  oc- 
casions when  the  reverse  happens.  Since  then  the 
facts  contained  in  the  tables,  and  the  arguments  used 
in  the  body  of  the  report,  seemed  to  prove  that  the.  but- 
ter cannot  be  supplied  from  the  oil  of  the  food,  it  be- 
comes an  interesting  point  for  the  agriculturist  to  learn 
from  what  element  of  the  food  it  proceeds.  It  may 
safely  be  inferred  that  it  must  be  formed  from  some 
other  constituent  of  the  diet  by  means  of  the  vascular 
system,  either  as  a  primary  or  secondary  stage.  Sugar 
affords  the  most  simple  element  from  which  it  may  be 
produced,  because  we  now  understand  how  the  acid  of 
butter  can  originate  from  sugar  ;  but  even  the  albumi- 
nous principles  might  afford  butter.  (Wurtz,  Liebig.) 
Upon  these  grounds,  then,  we  can  infer  that  a  certain 
degree  of  exercise  would  be  more  conducive  to  the  pro- 
duction of  fat  than  if  the  animal  is  allowed  to  remain 
at  rest ;  because,  as  the  source  of  the  fat  or  butter  is 
dependent  on  the  process  of  respiration,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  more  the  function  is  encouraged  within  mod- 
erate bounds,  the  greater  will  be  the  amount  of  the  oil- 
giving  principle  of  the  food  taken  into  the  system  and 
converted  into  fat.  We  believe  that  this  theoretical  de- 
duction is  perfectly  in  consonance  with  the  experience 
of  good  observers,  who  find  that  box  or  hammel  feeding 
is  more  conducive  to  health  of  cattle  and  cows  destined 
for  the  butcher,  or  for  the  production  of  butter,  than 
close  plant-like  confinement,  which  is  foreign  to  the  na- 
ture of  every  animal,  and  at  variance  with  the  first  prin- 
ciples of  physiological  science. 

It  appears  to  result  from  these  experiments,  as  an 
irresistible  conclusion,  that  the  fat  or  butter  of  the  milk 


142  SOURCE  OF  BUTTER. 

must  be  produced  at  the  expense  of  the  calorilient  in- 
gredients of  the  food,  aided  by  the  presence  of  the  nu- 
tritive or  azotized  principles  ;  and  that  the  greatest  pro- 
duct of  butter  must  be  obtained  when  the  two  ingredi- 
ents of  the  food  are  present  in  the  best  proportions. 


THE  MUSCLES  OF  ANIMALS.  143 


CHAPTER  IX. 

MUSCLE    OF   THE    BODY    SUPPLIED    BY    THE    FIBRIN    OF   THE    FOOD. FIBRIN 

SUPPLIES  HEAT  TO  THE  BODY.— ADDITIONAL  OR  CALORIFIENT  FOOD  AL- 
SO REQUIRED. AMOUNT  OF  NUTRITIVE  AND  CALORIFIENT  FOOD  CON- 
SUMED   BY   A   COW    PER    DAY. THE    TRUE    LAWS    OF   DIETING. AMOUNT 

OF     NUTRITrVE     MATTER    IN   VARIOUS     KINDS     OF     VEGETABLE     FOOD. 

ARROW-ROOT    IMPROPER    FOR    INFANT    FOOD.    BUT    USEFUL    IN    DISEASES. 

THE    LARGEST    QUANTITY    OF    MILK    PRODUCED    BY   FOOD    CONTAINING 

THE   GREATEST   AMOUNT   OF    NITROGEN. GRASS    AN    EXCEPTION   TO  THIS 

RULE. EXPLANATION  OF  THIS  FACT. NEW  FORMS  OF  BREAD. OAT- 
MEAL   BREAD BARLEY    BREAD INDIAN    CORN    BREAD PEAS  BREAD. 

MODE    OF    BAKING. DIFFERENCE     BETWEEN    FERMENTFD    AND     UNFER- 

MENTED    BREAD. UNFERMENTED    BREAD    RECOMMENDED. 

The  idea  which  is  now  entertained  by  physiologists, 
that  the  muscular  part  of  the  animal  frame  is  derived 
from  the  albuminous  constituent  of  the  food,  was  clear- 
ly pointed  out  by  Beccaria  in  the  year  1742.  (Histoire 
de  VAcademie  de  Bologne,  Collect.  Acad.  xiv.  1.)  He 
demonstrated  that  the  flour  of  wheat  contained  two 
characteristic  ingredients,  which  on  distillation  or  di- 
gestion afford  products  totally  dissimilar  to  each  other. 
One  of  these,  which  he  termed  the  starchy  part,  re- 
sembles in  its  constitution  vegetables,  and  supplies 
analogous  products.  Vegetable  substances,  he  says, 
may  be  recognised  by  their  fermenting,  and  yielding 
acids  without  exhibiting  symptoms  of  putrefaction.  The 
glutinous  part  of  flour,  on  the  contrary,  resembles  ani- 
mal matter,  the  distinguishing  feature  of  which  is  its 
tendency  to  putrefaction  and  conversion  into  a  urinous 
(ammoniacal)  liquid.     "So  strong,"  he  adds,  "is  the 


144  FIBRIN    SUPPLIES    HEAT    TO    THE    BODY. 

resemblance  of  gluten  to  animal  matter,  that  if  we  were 
not  aware  of  its  being  extracted  from  wheat,  we  should 
not  fail  to  mistake  it  for  a  product  of  the  animal  world." 
To  be  convinced  that  he  considered  this  identical  sub- 
stance to  enter  into  the  constitution  of  our  frames,  it  is 
only  necessary  to  quote  his  query :  "  Is  it  not  true  that 
we  are  composed  of  the  same  substances  which  serve 
as  our  nourishment  ?"  The  same  doctrine  has  been 
taught  and  practised  in  our  own  country,  in  more  re- 
cent times,  by  Dr.  Prout,  and  is  now  almost  universally 
received  by  European  physiologists,  although  the  true 
authors  may  not  have  been  always  recognised.  That 
the  systems  of  animals  are  capable  of  sustentation  by  a 
supply  of  fibrinous  matter  almost  alone  is  obvious  from 
the  history  of  the  primitive  inhabitants  of  the  prairies  of 
America.  It  is  stated  on  good  authority,  (Callin,)  that 
there  are  250,000  Indians  who  live  almost  exclusively 
on  buffalo  flesh  during  the  year.  The  fresh  meat  is 
cut  in  slices  of  half  an  inch  in  thickness  across  the  grain, 
so  as  to  have  fat  and  lean  in  layers,  and  is  hung  up  ex- 
posed to  the  sun  and  dried.  Upon  this  food,  which  is 
pounded,  and  eaten  sometimes  with  marrow,  the  wild 
hordes  of  the  West  are  not  only  nourished,  but  it  is  ob- 
vious  that  the  heat  of  their  bodies  is  kept  up,  since  they 
taste  no  vegetable  food  whatever.  Fibrin,  then,  is 
calorifient,  or  capable  alone,  we  infer,  of  producing  ani- 
mal heat.  Liebig,  it  is  well  known,  divides  the  functions 
of  the  food  into  nutritive  and  respiratory.  I  have  ven- 
tured to  employ,  instead  of  the  latter  term,  the  expression 
calorifient  or  heat-producing,  so  as  to  give  a  wider 
range  through  the  whole  system  to  the  function  of  the 
unazotized  food  than  the  more  local  term  of  respiratory 
would  appear  to  imply.  According  to  this  view  all  food  is 


USE    OF    CALORIFIENT    FOOD.  145 

destined  for  repairing  the  waste  of  the  body,  and  for  the 
production  of  animal  heat.  The  heat  may  be  produced 
by  the  union  of  the  carbon  and  hydrogen  of  the  food 
with  oxygen  (the  latter  gaining  admission  to  the  system 
by  the  lungs,  stomach,  and  skin,)  or  by  the  condensa- 
tion of  oxygen  during  its  substitution  for  hydrogen  and 
formation  of  oxygen  products.  The  preceding  inference 
we  also  deduce  from  the  experiment  in  which  a  dog 
was  fed  for  some  weeks  on  the  glutinous  matter  of  flour, 
(Magendie ;)  and  it  may  be  further  concluded,  that  fib- 
rinous or  albuminous  matter  when  given  alone  is  par- 
tially converted  into  carbonic  acid,  and  is  removed  from 
the  system  during  the  process' of  expiration.  But  it 
would  appear,  from  consideration  of  the  experiments 
which  have  been  made  on  the  nutrition  of  animals  with 
pure  fibrin,  that  an  auxiliary  in  the  production  of  ani- 
mal heat  is  either  indispensable  or  highly  advantageous, 
since  animals  fed  on  fibrin  alone  invariably  declined  in 
health,  (Magendie,)  and  the  American  Indians  have  a 
certain  admixture  of  fat  with  their  dry  meat,  and  are  in 
the  habit  likewise  of  using  marrow  with  it. 

The  reason  why  an  auxiliary  is  required  for  the  sup 
ply  of  animal  heat  appears  to  be,  that  the  fibrinous 
matter  which  is  taken  up  by  the  vessels  of  the  intes- 
tines and  is  carried  into  the  blood,  requires  to  pass 
through  the  condition  of  muscular  tissue  before  it  can 
be  of  service  as  a  calorifient  agent.  The  only  view 
which  appears  at  present  to  be  tenable  is,  that  all  or  the 
greater  part  of  the  fibrinous  and  albuminous  matters 
which  enter  the  blood  displace  a  certain  amount  of  the 
same  substances  existing  in  a  solid  form  in  the  system, 
as  brain,  muscle,  &c,  and  that  the  displaced  matter 
undergoes  certain  modifications  ;  probably,  for  example, 


146 


AMOUNT    OF    NUTRITIVE    AND 


it  passes  into  the  form  of  gelatin,  and  is  excreted  in  the 
soluble  state  of  urea,  uric  acid,  and  nitrogenous  pro- 
ducts. It  is  in  passing  into  these  last  conditions  that 
we  can  alone  expect  fibrinous  matter  to  give  out  animal 
heat.  Time,  therefore,  is  required  to  produce  these 
changes.  It  is  to  save  the  system,  then,  from  too  rapid 
waste,  and  at  the  same  time  to  afford  an  abundant  sup- 
ply of  heat,  that  the  calorifient  food  is  required,  and  is 
always  employed  by  all  members  of  the  human  family 
who  have  advanced  beyond  the  savage  state. 

That  the  amount  of  calorifient  food,  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  nutritive  food,  properly  so  called,  as  it  has  been 
well  defined  by  Liebig,  is  out  of  all  proportion  greater 
than  that  required  to  supply  the  waste  of  the  solid  mat- 
ter of  the  body,  is  obvious  from  the  following  table, 
which  represents  the  amount  of  the  ultimate  consti- 
tuents of  the  food  of  a  stall-fed  cow,  consumed  during 
one  day  : — 


Food. 

Fceces. 

Consumption. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

Carbon        - 

11-90 

5-10 

6-80 

Hydrogen  - 

1*61 

062 

0-99 

Nitrogen     - 

0-45 

0-20 

0-25 

Oxygen       ... 

10-74 

4-12 

6-62 

Ash      - 

1-71 

1-09 

0-62 

26-41 

11-13 

15-28 

The  food  in  this  case  was  grass,  (the  lolium  perenne, 
or  rye-grass.)  If  we  now  calculate  the  amount  of  food 
which  was  destined  for  nutrition  by  the  formulae  below,* 


*  Albuminous  matters  contain  about  53  per  cent,  of  carbon,  7  of 
hydrogen,  16  nitrogen,  and  24  oxygen.     Hence,  to  obtain  the  carbon 


CALORIFIENT    FOOD    CONSUMED.  147 


we  find  that  it  amounts  only  to  156  lbs. 
in  a  tabular  form  : — 

Nutritive, 
lb-. 
Carbon    ...     0*828 

,,  as  represented 

Calorifient. 

lbs. 
5-982 

Hydrogen        -         -     0-109 
Nitrogen          -         -     0-250 
Oxygen            -         -     0373 

0771 
6-247 

1-560  13000 

A  true  system  of  dieting  would  therefore  require  such 
tables  for  each  condition  of  animals,  in  order  that  a 
comparison  may  be  instituted  between  the  wants  of  the 
system  and  the  food.  If  this  mode  of  viewing  the 
question  be  correct,  then  the  relation  of  the  nutritive 
part  of  the  food  absorbed  by  the  animal  system  in  the 
preceding  experiment  is  to  the  calorifient  portion  as  1 
to  8i  nearly.  By  comparing  this  fact,  then,  (which  is 
independent  of  all  hypothesis,)  with  the  different  varie- 
ties of  human  food,  it  is  probable  that  some  light  may 
be  obtained  in  reference  to  the  differences  in  the  rela- 
tive proportion  of  these  constituents.  Milk,  for  exam- 
ple, the  food  of  the  infant  mammalia,  contains  one  part 
of  nutritive  to  two  parts  of  calorifient  constituents,  and 
in  the  growing  state  of  an  animal  the  nutritive  part  of 
the  food  not  only  supplies  the  place  of  the  metamor- 
phosed solids,  but  an  additional  amount  of  it  is  required 
to  increase  the  bulk  of  the  individual ;  and,  as  we  have 
already  stated  that  animal  heat  is  generated  by  the 
change   or  degradation  of  the   fibrinous  tissues,  it  is 


•25X53 

from  the  above  table  we  have  — — —  =  -828  lbs.  carbon :   for  the 

16 

hydrogen  — - —  =  -109  lbs.  hydrogen ;   for  the  oxygen  - — ^— i 

=  0*373  lbs.  oxygen. 


148  RELATION    OF    NUTRITIVE    TO 

obvious  that  in  the  nourishment  of  infant  life  there  is  a 
supply  of  heat  from  the  casein,  vastly  superior  to  that 
afforded  by  fibrin  supplied  to  full-grown  animals,  be- 
cause the  amount  taken  in  proportion  to  the  quantity 
of  calorifient  matter  is  much  greater.  If  we  refer, 
again,  to  the  food  which  is  generally  employed  by  the 
inhabitants  of  this  country,  wheat  and  barley,  we  find 
by  a  mean  of  experiments  afterwards  to  be  detailed, 
that  the  average  amount  of  albuminous  matter  present 
in  them  is  11  per  cent.,  while  the  quantity  of  starch  and 
sugar  existing  in  these  substances  may  vary  from  70  to 
80  per  cent. ;  thus  affording  the  proportion  of  nutritive 
to  calorifient  food  as  1  to  7,  and  upwards.  Such  food, 
it  may  be  inferred,  is  fitted  for  the  consumption  of  an 
animal  which  is  not  subjected  to  much  exercise  of  the 
muscular  system,  and  may  be  viewed  as  the  limit  of 
excess  of  the  calorifient  over  the  nutritive  constituents 
of  food.  As  the  demands  upon  the  muscular  part  of 
the  frame  become  more  urgent,  the  proportion  of  the 
azotized  or  nutritive  constituents  should  be  increased, 
and  this  may  be  extended  until  we  arrive  at  the  point 
where  the  fibrinous  matter  is  equal  to  the  half  of  the 
calorifient,  which  is  probably,  in  a  perfectly  normal 
physiology,  the  greatest  relative  proportion  of  nutritive 
material  admissible. 

The  proportion  of  the  nutritive  to  the  calorifient 
constituents  of  food  should  therefore  vary  according  as 
the  animal  is  in  a  state  of  exercise  or  rest ;  and  it  is 
upon  the  proper  consideration  of  such  relations  that  the 
true  laws  of  dieting  depend.  For  calculations  of  this 
nature,  tables  exhibiting  the  amount  of  albuminous 
matters  in  the  different  articles  of  food  are  indispen- 
sable, as  they  afford  at  a  glance  the  required  knowledge, 


HEAT-PRODUCING    FOOD. 


149 


The  constituents  of  the  flours  used  as  human  food  are 
principally  albuminous  matter,  calorifient  matter,  water, 
and  salts  ;  so  that  when  we  have  determined  the  amount 
of  albuminous  substance  in  the  dried  condition  of  the 
flour,  the  remainder  may  be  estimated  as  calorifient 
matter  without  any  sensible  error.  In  the  following 
table  the  water  has  not  been  removed  from  the  flour 
The  numbers  are  the.  results  of  my  experiments  : — 

Albuminous  or  Nutritive 
Matter  per  cent. 


Bean  meal  - 

- 

25 

36 

Linseed  meal 

- 

23 

62 

Scotch  oatmeal    - 

- 

15 

61 

Semolina     - 

- 

12 

81 

Canadian  flour 

- 

11 

62 

Barley          - 

- 

11 

31 

Maize           - 

- 

10 

93 

Essex  flour 

-   10-55  to 

11 

80 

East  Lothian  flour 

-     9-74  to 

11 

55 

Hay    - 

- 

9 

71 

Malt   - 

- 

8 

71 

Rice  (East  Indian) 

- 

8 

37 

Sago  - 

- 

3 

33 

South  Sea  arrow-root  - 

- 

3 

21 

Tapioca       - 

- 

3 

13 

Potatoes       - 

_ 

2 

23 

Starch  (wheat)     - 

- 

2 

18 

Swedish  turnips  - 

- 

1 

32 

The  numbers  represent  the  amount  of  albuminous 
matter  contained  in  100  parts  of  the  various  substances 
as  they  occur  in  commerce.  As  all  of  the  substances 
in  the  table  contain  from  5  to  14  per  cent,  of  water, 
certain  deductions  are  required,  to  arrive  at  the  true 
amount  of  calorifient  matter.  In  general,  it  may  be 
stated  that  wheat  flour,  maize,  barley,  and  beans  con- 

13* 


150  NUTRITION    AND    HEAT    FUO?.I    FOOD. 

tain  from  10  to  14  per  cent,  of  water,  while  oatmeal 
contains  6  per  cent.,  and  tapioca,  arrow-root,  and  sago, 
from  10  to  13  per  cent.  In  order  to  arrive  at  the  true 
amount  of  calorifient  matter  contained  in  the  substances 
in  the  lable,  we  have  only  to  deduct  the  amount  of  al- 
buminous substances,  with  the  water  and  salts,  which, 
upon  an  average,  amount -together  to  about  12  to  15  per 
cent.  Then,  by  dividing  the  remainder,  or  calorifient 
matter,  by  the  amount  of  albuminous  substances,  we 
obtain  the  relation  subsisting  between  the  nutritive  and 
calorifient  constituents.  In  this  manner  tables  may  be 
constructed,  illustrating  the  true  practice  of  dieting. 

Approximate  Relation  of  Nutritive  to  Calorifient  Matter. 

Relation  of  Nutri- 
tive to  Calorifient. 

Milk. — Food  for  a  growing  animal     -         -  -         1  to     2 

Beans      -         -         -                  -         -         -  -         1  —     2£ 

Oatmeal           -         -         -         -         -         -  -         1  —     5 

Semolina 

Barley 

English  Wheat  Flour. — Food  for  an  animal  at  rest     1  —     8 

Potatoes 1  —     9 

Rice        -                  1  —  10 

Turnips  -         -         -         -         -         -         -  1  — 11 

Arrow-root  \ 

Tapioca       >  -         -         -         -         -         -  -         1  —  26 

Sago  ) 

Starch     -         -         -         -         -         -         -  -         1  —  40 

From  this  table  we  are  led  to  infer  that  the  food  des- 
tined for  the  animal  in  a  state  of  exercise  should  range 
between  milk  and  wheat  flour,  varying  in  its  degree  of 
dilution  with  calorifient  matter  according  to  the  nature 
and  extent  of  the  demands  upon  the  system.  The 
animal  system  is  thus  viewed  as  in  an  analogous  con- 


FOOD    FOR    CHILDREN.  151 

dition  to  a  field  from  which  different  crops  extract  dif- 
ferent amounts  of  matter  from  the  soil,  which  must  be 
ascertained  by  experiment.  An  animal  at  rest  con- 
sumes more  calorifient  food  in  relation  to  the  nutritive 
constituents  than  an  animal  in  full  exercise.  The  food, 
therefore,  employed  by  a  person  of  sedentary  habits 
should  contain  more  calorifient  and  less  nutritive  matter 
than  one  whose  occupations  cause  him  to  take  more 
exercise.  It  is  to  be  desired  that  some  light  should  be 
thrown  on  this  subject  by  careful  experiments.  The 
food  of  animals  and  the  manure  of  plants  we  thus  see 
afford  somewhat  of  a  parallelism.  Milk  may  therefore 
be  used  with  a  certain  amount  of  farinaceous  matter, 
such  as  the  class  of  flours  and  meals,  with  probable  ad- 
vantage ;  but  the  dilution  should  not  exceed  the  pre- 
scribed limits.  It  is  thus  that  we  may  explain  the  fact 
of  beans,  oats,  oatmeal,  and  barley  meal  being  used  so 
extensively  in  the  feeding  of  horses.  These  articles 
of  food,  however,  do  not  suffice  alone  :  calorifient  mat- 
ter in  the  form  of  hay  should  also  be  administered. 
From  this  table,  likewise,  we  infer  that,  as  nature  has 
provided  milk  for  the  support  of  the  infant  mammalia, 
the  constitution  of  their  food  should  always  be  formed 
after  this  type.  Hence  we  learn  that  milk,  in  some 
form  or  other,  is  the  true  food  of  children,  and  that  the 
use  of  arrow-root,  or  any  of  the  members  of  the  starch 
'class,  where  the  relation  of  the  nutritive  to  calorifient 
matter  is  as  1  to  26  instead  of  being  as  1  to  2,  by  an 
animal  placed  in  the  circumstances  of  a  human  infant, 
is  opposed  to  the  principles  unfolded  by  the  preceding 
table.  In  making  this  statement,  I  find  that  there  are 
certain  misapprehensions  into  which  medical  men  are 
apt  to  be  led  at  the  first  view  of  the  subject.     To  render 


152  ARROW-ROOT    IMPROPER    FOR    CHILDREN. 

it  clearer,  let  us  recall  to  mind  what  the  arrow-root 
class  of  diet  consists  of.  Arrow-root  and  tapioca  are 
prepared  by  washing  the  roots  of  certain  plants  until 
all  the  matter  soluble  in  water  is  removed.  Now,  as 
albumen  is  soluble  in  water,  this  form  of  nutritive 
matter  must  in  a  great  measure  be  washed  away : 
under  this  aspect  we  might  view  the  original  root  before 
it  was  subjected  to  the  washing  process,  to  approximate 
in  composition  to  that  of  flour.  If  the  latter  substance 
were  washed  by  repeated  additions  of  water  the  nitro- 
genous or  nutritive  ingredients  would  be  separated  from 
the  starchy  or  calorihent  elements,  being  partly  soluble 
in  water,  and  partly  mechanically  removed.  Arrow- 
root, therefore,  may  be  considered  as  flour  deprived  as 
much  as  possible  of  its  nutritive  matter.  When  we 
administer  arrow-root  to  a  child  it  is  equivalent  to 
washing  all  the  nutritive  matter  out  of  bread,  flour,  or 
oatmeal,  and  supplying  it  with  the  starch  ;  or  it  is  the 
same  thing  approximately  as  if  we  gave  it  starch ;  and 
this  is  in  fact  what  is  done,  when  children  are  fed  upon 
what  is  sold  in  the  shops  under  the  title  of  farinaceous 
food,  empirical  preparations  of  which  no  one  can  under- 
stand the  composition  without  analysis.  Of  the  bad 
effects  produced  in  children  by  the  use  of  these  most 
exceptionable  mixtures,  I  have  had  ample  opportunities 
of  forming  an  opinion,  and  I  am  inclined  to  infer  that 
many  of  the  irregularities  of  the  bowels,  the  production 
of  wind,  &c,  in  children,  are  often  attributable  to  the 
use  of  such  unnatural  species  of  food.  How  often  are 
the  ears  of  parents  and  nurses  distressed  with  the  ago- 
nizing cries  of  the  helpless  child,  and  how  often  are 
these  symptoms  of  suffering  treated  as  the  effects  of  ill- 
humor,  or  of  causeless  peevishness  ;  when,  on  the  con- 


NUTRITIVE  EFFECT  OF  OATMEAL.       153 

trary,  they  have  been  produced  by  the  improper  diet  in 
many  cases  with  which  the  child  has  been  supplied  ! 
It  should  be  remembered  that  all  starchy  food  deprived 
of  nutritive  matter  is  of  artificial  production,  and 
scarcely,  if  ever,  exists  in  nature  in  an  isolated  form. 
The  administration  of  the  arrow-root  class  is  therefore 
only  admissible  when  a  sufficient  amount  of  nutritive 
matter  has  been  previously  introduced  into  the  diges- 
tive organs,  or  when  it  is  inadvisable  to  supply  nutri- 
tion to  the  system,  as  in  cases  of  inflammatory  action. 
In  such  instances  the  animal  heat  must  be  kept  up,  and 
for  this  purpose  calorifient  food  alone  is  necessary. 
This  treatment  is  equivalent  to  removing  blood  from 
the  system,  since  the  waste  of  the  fibrinous  tissues 
goes  on,  while  an  adequate  reparation  is  not  sustained 
by  the  introduction  of  nutritive  food.  A  certain  amount 
of  muscular  sustentation  is  still,  however,  effected  by 
the  use  of  arrow-root  diet ;  since,  according  to  the  pre- 
ceding tables,  it  contains  about  one-third  as  much  nu- 
tritive matter  as  some  of  the  wheat  flours.  The  ex- 
tensive use  of  oatmeal,  which  is  attended  with  such 
wholesome  consequences  among  the  children  of  all 
ranks  in  Scotland,  is,  however,  an  important  fact  de- 
serving of  serious  consideration  ;  and,  it  appears  to  me, 
is  strongly  corroborative  of  the  principles  which  I  have 
endeavored  to  lay  down  in  the  preceding  pages.  After 
the  explanations  which  have  been  given,  it  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  particularize  further  the  specific  nature  of 
the  food  to  be  recommended  for  the  use  of  children, 
A  certain  admixture  of  milk,  the  natural  type  of  the 
food,  is  still  to  be  retained,  while  the  solid  matter  to  be 
prepared  along  with  it  may  be  of  great  variety,  such  as 
bread  made  into  panado,  semolina  or  pounded  wheat ; 


154  OATMEAL  VERY  NUTRITIVE. 

I  believe  this  kind  of  food,  which  is  sold  in  the  shops, 
to  be  generally  prepared  from  wheat  brought  from  a 
more  temperate  region  than  that  of  this  country,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  amount  of  nitrogen  which  I  have  found 
in  it.     The  best  American  wheat  flour,  good  Scottish 
oatmeal,  and  barley-meal,  may  all  be  employed  at  dif- 
ferent times  by  way  of  variety,  and  repeated  according 
to  their  agreement  with  the  child's  organs  of  digestion. 
The  digestion  of  ail   these  forms  of  food   containing 
starch  is  greatly  promoted  by  long  boiling  either  with 
water  or  milk,  as  this  process  is  just  so  much  labor 
saved  to  the  intestinal  organs.     It  is  thus  obvious  that 
we  have  a  great  variety  of  food  fitted  for  children  of 
which  we  know  the  composition,  and  that  we  should 
prefer  it  to  any  species  of  compounded  stuff  the  con- 
stitution of  which  we  are  ignorant.     It  is  a  sufficiently 
remarkable  fact,  that  oats  increase  in  nutritive  power  in 
proportion   to   the    increase  of  latitude   within  certain 
limits,  while  wheat   follows    an    inverse  law.     Those 
who  are  in  the  habit  of  representing  mankind  as  the 
"lords  of  the  creation,"  who  take  the  limited  view  of 
considering  all  that,  we  see  around  us  as  created  merely 
for  their  use,  misapplying  the  thought — "the  proper 
study  of  mankind   is  man  ;"  and  who  thus,  with  the 
characteristic  vanity  of  earthliness,  follow  the  footsteps 
of   Kant,   profanely   attempting   to   survey   the  divine 
mind,  will  discern  probably  in  this  curious  circumstance 
further  proofs  of  their  theory,  as  if  to  show  "  how  little 
can  be  known." 

In  the  table  which  contains  the  amount  of  albuminous 
matter  in  different  kinds  of  food,  a  second  column,  in 
accordance  with  tables  of  this  description,  might  have 
been  added,  representing  100  parts  of  beans  as  equal  in 


EQUILIBRIUM    OF    THE    FOOD.  155 

nutritive  power  to  1 160  of  starch  ;  but  if  the  views  now 
explained  are  legitimate,  we  see  that  such  a  method  of 
estimating  nutritive  power  is  not  founded  on  scientific 
principles.  In  a  correct  plan  of  dieting  the  proper 
equilibrium  must  be  retained  between  the  demands  of 
the  animal  organism  and  the  constitution  of  the  food, 
otherwise,  either  the  nutritive  or  calorifient  system  must 
be  deteriorated.  These  views  sufficiently  explain  the  ex- 
periments which  have  been  made  upon  cows  ;  in  which 
the  result  was  unfavorable,  when  they  were  fed  on  po- 
tatoes and  beet-root  in  considerable  quantities,  as  both 
of  these  substances  contain  an  excess  of  calorifient 
matter.  It  is  well  known  to  feeders  of  cattle,  that  an 
animal  fed  on  large  quantities  of  potatoes  is  liable  to 
complaints,  such  as  affections  of  the  skin,  and  also  to 
loss  of  weight.  These  consequences,  it  may  be  readily 
inferred,  are  derived  from  the  want  of  the  proper  bal- 
ance between  the  elements  of  the  food. 

The  importance  of  attention  to  the  proper  equilibrium 
of  the  constituents  of  the  food  is  clearly  pointed  out  in 
the  following  table,  from  which  it  is  evident,  that  food 
containing  the  greatest  amount  of  starch  or  sugar  does 
not  produce  the  largest  quantity  of  butter,  although 
these  substances  are  supposed  to  supply  the  butter; 
but  the  best  product  of  milk  and  butter  is  yielded  by 
those  species  of  food  which  seem  to  restore  the  equili- 
brium of  the  animals  most  efficiently.  The  first 
column  in  the  table  represents  the  food  used  by  two 
cows  ;  the  second  column  gives  the  mean  milk  of  the 
two  animals  for  five  days  ;  the  third,  the  butter  during 
periods  of  five  days ;  while  the  fourth  contains  the 
amount  of  nitrogen  in  the  food  taken  by  both  animals 
during  the  same  periods  : — 


156 


EQUILIBRIUM    OF    THE    FOOD. 


Milk  in 

Butter  in 

Nitrogen 

five 

five 

in  Fund  in 

Days. 

Days. 

five  Days. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

I. 

Grass     - 

11.4 

3-50 

2-32 

II. 

Barley  and  hay 

107 

3-43 

3-89 

III. 

Malt  and  hay  - 

102 

3-20 

334 

IV. 

Barley,  molasses,  and  hay 

106 

3-44 

3-82 

V. 

Barley,  linseed,  and  hay  - 

108 

3-48 

4-14 

VI. 

Beans  and  hay 

108 

3-72 

527 

We  may  infer,  from  these  results,  that  grass  affords 
the  best  products,  because  the  nutritive  and  calorifient 
constituents  are  combined  in  this  form  of  food,  in  the 
most  advantageous  relations.  The  other  kinds  of  food 
have  been  subjected  to  certain  artificial  conditions,  by 
which  their  equilibrium  may  have  been  disturbed.  In 
the  process  of  hay-making,  for  example,  the  coloring 
matter  of  the  grass  is  either  removed  or  altered  ;  a  por- 
tion of  the  sugar  is  washed  out  or  destroyed  by  fer- 
mentation, while  certain  of  the  soluble  salts  are  re- 
moved by  every  shower  of  rain  which  falls  during  the 


curing  oi  the   hay. 


Perhaps   similar  observations  are 


more  or  less   applicable  to  the   other  species  of  food 
enumerated. 

The  principles  which  we  have  been  endeavoring  to 
explain  being  understood,  little  difficulty  will  be  expe- 
rienced in  constructing  dietaries,  so  as  to  meet  the 
wants  of  the  animal  system  under  the  particular  circum- 
stances in  which  it  may  be  placed.  By  various  mix- 
tures of  one  kind  of  flour,  less  supplied  with  azotized 
matter,  with  another  which  is  richer  in  this  material, 
the  equilibrium  of  the  food  which  from  meteorological 
causes  prevailing  in  any  particular  country,  may  not 
have  reached  the  proper  standard,  may  be  effectually 
restored.     The  wheat  of  England,  for  example,  is  infc- 


NEW    FORMS    OF    BREAD.  157 

• 

rior  to  that  of  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  of  America, 
as  appears  from  the  table.  It  may,  however,  be  im- 
proved by  an  admixture  either  with  foreign  flour,  or 
with  oatmeal,  barley,  beans,  or  any  of  those  substances 
which  stand  above  it  in  the  table  ;  and  in  this  state  it 
will  be  found  to  form  palatable  bread.  All  these  spe- 
cies of  grain  owe  their  nutritive  properties  to  the  pres- 
ence of  fibrin,  casein,  gluten,  and  albumen.  It  is  in  the 
predominance  of  gluten  over  the  other  azotized  mate- 
rials that  wheat  owes  its  superior  power  of  detaining 
the  carbonic  acid  engendered  by  fermentation,  and  thus 
communicating  to  it  the  vesicular  spongy  structure  so 
characteristic  of  good  bread.  By  mixing  one-third  of 
Canada  flour  with  two-thirds  of  maize,  a  very  good  loaf 
is  produced,  and  when  equal  parts  of  flour  and  oatmeal, 
or  of  barley,  or  of  peasmeal,  are  employed,  palatable 
bread  is  the  result.  Beneficial  effects  would  probably 
follow  from  the  admixture  of  two  or  three  different 
kinds  of  grain,  and  many  of  these  forms  of  bread  might 
be  substituted  with  advantage  for  pure  wheat  flour  in 
peculiar  conditions  of  the  system. 

When  it  is  proposed  to  make  a  loaf  of  oatmeal  and 
flour,  the  common  oatmeal  should  be  sifted  so  as  to 
obtain  the  finest  portion  of  the  meal,  or  it  may  be 
ground  to  the  proper  consistence.  This  should  be 
mixed  then  with  an  equal  weight  of  best  flour,  Cana- 
dian,  for  example,  and  fermented.  I  have  not  suc- 
ceeded in  making  a  good  loaf  with  a  smaller  amount 
of  flour  than  one  half,  although  I  have  tried  it  in  vari- 
ous proportions.  If  we  were  to  attempt  to  raise  oat- 
meal without  an  admixture  with  flour,  in  consequence 
of  the  absence  of  gluten,  that  principle  which  retains 
the  carbonic  acid  of  fermentation,  we  should  obtain  only 

14 


158  OATMEAL  AND  MAIZE  BREAD, 

• 

a  sad,  heavy,  doughy  piece  of  moist  flour.  This  form 
of  bread,  it  appears  to  me,  and  to  many  who  have  ex 
amined  it,  would  be  a  great  improvement  on  the  hard, 
dry  oat-cakes,  so  much  used  in  the  more  unfrequented 
parts  of  our  country,  where  the  inhabitants  have 
scarcely  as  yet  commenced  to  share  in  what  are  in 
other  localities  considered  to  be  necessaries  of  life.  It 
is  an  observation  which  all  must  have  made  who  have 
considered  the  condition  of  mankind  in  their  various 
stages  of  advancement,  that  an  increase  in  the  physical 
comforts,  and  above  all,  the  improvement  in  the  diet, 
are  the  first  symptoms  of  an  onward  movement  in  civil- 
ization. It  has  always  appeared  to  me,  that  it  is  in 
vain  to  expect  any  other  condition  than  that  of  retro- 
gression among  people,  such  as  are  too  abundant  in 
{Scotland  and  Ireland,  where  the  clothing  is  so  defi- 
cient as  to  leave  the  extremities  of  the  body,  more  par- 
ticularly among  the  female  classes,  the  educators  of  the 
community,  in  a  state  of  nudity,  and  wdiere  the  food  is 
confined  in  a  great  measure  to  the  w7atery  potato,  or 
the  dry  and  unpalatable  oat-cake.* 

Maize  bread  may  be  made  of  good  quality  by  a 
smaller  admixture  of  flour  than  is  necessary  in  the  in- 
stance of  oatmeal.  For  this  purpose,  it  should  be  re- 
duced to  a  fine  meal, — finer  than  is  usual  in  America. 
It  may  then  be  mixed  with  one-third  its  weight  of  best 
flour,  and  fermented  in  the  usual  way.  When  thus 
prepared,  the  best  maize  bread  is  always  dark  colored, 
and  cannot  be  made  much  lighter  than  coarse  wheat 
bread.      The  shade,  however,  is   somewhat   different 


*  By  custom,  it  becomes  more  agreeable,  but  at  first  it  is  usually 
nauseous,  especially  to  one  who  is  not  a  native  of  the  country. 


BARLEY    BREAD,    AND    BISCUITS.  159 

from  that  of  wheat,  as  it  inclines  more  to  a  yellow  tint. 
We  may  be  quite  certain,  however,  when  we  see  what 
is  called  maize  bread  possessed  of  a  white  color,  that  it 
contains  much  more  than  one-third  its  weight  of  wheat 
flour  mixed  with  it.  Even  when  one-half  its  weight  of 
wheat  flour  is  added  to  it,  the  dark  color,  characteristic 
of  maize,  is  retained.  In  these  cases,  of  course  the 
price  of  the  bread  must  be  higher  than  when  a  smaller 
amount  of  maize  is  present. 

The  whitest  bread,  however,  is  made  by  an  inter- 
mixture of  barley  meal  and  wheat  flour.  The  smallest 
amount  of  wheat  flour  in  this  mixture,  which  I  have 
found  requisite  to  make  a  good  loaf,  was  one-half,  al- 
though the  quantity  of  flour  may  be  diminished  accord- 
ing to  the  increase  in  the  richness  of  wheat  in  albumin- 
ous  matter ;  an  observation  which,  of  course,  applies 
to  the  various  kinds  of  bread  to  which  allusion  has 
already  been  made.  The  most  successful  of  these 
varieties  of  bread  is,  perhaps,  that  which  is  made  with 
equal  quantities  of  peas-meal  and  flour,  so  far  as  re- 
spects the  exterior  aspect.  The  last,  however,  is  pala- 
table, and  the  specimen  is  a  good  example  of  a  whole- 
some, condensed  vegetable  diet,  and  would  probably 
answer  as  a  substitute  for  animal  food  where  the  func- 
tions of  the  stomach  are  not  materially  impaired. 

Upon  similar  principles,  excellent  biscuits  may  be 
made,  either  for  rapid  consumption,  or  for  preservation, 
at  a  more  moderate  expense  than  when  they  are  entirely 
composed  of  wheat  flour.  When  a  biscuit  is  formed 
of  Indian  corn,  without  any  intermixture  of  wheat,  the 
color  has  a  yellow  tint,  which,  however,  in  a  great 
measure,  disappears  when  wheat  flour  is  added  in  the 
proportion  of  one-third.     When  destitute  of  the  pres* 


160  FERMENTED    AND 

ence  of  wheat,  it  is  not  so  consistent,  and  is  apt  to 
crack  and  break  off  short.  Oat-meal  and  barley-meal 
biscuits  may  be  produced  also  by  mixture  with  wheat 
flour.  They  require,  however,  a  somewhat  larger  pro- 
portion of  the  latter,  as  their  particles  seem  even  less 
adapted  of  themselves  to  cohere  than  those  of  the  In- 
dian corn.  An  admixture  of  a  variety  of  meals  forms 
a  very  palatable  biscuit,  as  it  possesses  a  sweeter  taste, 
even  without  the  artificial  addition  of  sugar,  than  wheat 
flour  alone.  Such  biscuits  are  calculated  to  keep  for 
a  longer  or  shorter  time,  according  to  the  firing  to 
which  they  are  subjected.  In  the  former  case  they 
are  well  calculated  to  keep  at  sea. 

Bread  of  such  a  description  may  be  made  either  by 
the  usual  process  of  fermentation,  or  by  the  action  of 
hydrochloric  acid  upon  sesquicarbonate  of  soda.  In 
many  respects  the  latter  process  deserves  the  prefer- 
ence, when  we  consider  the  chemical  nature  of  the  two 
methods. 

The  vulgar  idea,  which  yields  the  palm  of  superiority 
to  the  former,  does  not  appear  to  be  based  on  solid 
data,  and  it  seems  desirable,  that  in  a  case  of  so  much 
importance  in  domestic  economy,  the  arguments  in 
favor  of  such  an  opinion  should  be  subjected  to  a  careful 
experimental  examination.  Judging  a  priori,  it  does 
not  seem  evident  that  flour  should  become  more  whole- 
some by  the  destruction  of  one  of  its  important  ele- 
ments, or  that  the  vesicular  condition  engendered  by 
the  evolution  of  carbonic  acid  from  that  source,  should 
at  once  convert  dough  (if  it  were  unwholesome)  into 
wholesome  bread. 

When  a  piece  of  dough  is  taken  in  the  hand,  being 
adhesive,  and  closely  pressed  together,  it  feels  heavy, 


UNFERMENTED    BREAD.  161 

and  if  swallowed  in  the  raw  condition,  it  would  prove 
indigestible  to  the  majority  of  individuals.  This  would 
occur  from  its  compact  nature,  and  from  the  absence 
of  that  disintegration  of  its  particles  which  is  the  pri- 
mary step  in  digestion.  But,  if  the  same  dough  were 
subjected  to  the  elevated  heat  of  a  baker's  oven,  450°, 
its  relation  to  the  digestive  powers  of  the  stomach  would 
be  changed,  because  the  water  to  which  it  owed  its 
tenacity  would  be  expelled,  and  the  only  obstacle  to  its 
complete  division  and  consequent  subserviency  to  the  sol- 
vent powers  of  the  animal  system  would  be  removed. 
This  view  of  the  case  is  fully  borne  out  by  a  reference 
to  the  form  in  which  the  flour  of  the  various  species  of 
cerealia  is  employed  as  an  article  of  food  by  different 
nations.  By  the  peasantry  of  Scotland,  barley-bread, 
oat-cakes,  peas-bread,  or  a  mixture  of  peas  and  barley- 
bread,  and  also  potato-bread,  mixed  with  flour,  are  all 
very  generalby  employed  in  an  unfermented  form  with 
an  effect  the  reverse  of  injurious  to  health.  With  such 
an  experience,  under  our  daily  observation,  it  seems 
almost  unnecessary  to  remark,  that  the  Jew  does  not 
labor  under  indigestion  when  he  has  substituted,  during 
his  passover,  unleavened  cakes,  for  his  usual  fermented 
bread  ;  that  biscuits  are  even  employed  when  fermented 
bread  is  not  considered  sufficiently  digestible  for  the 
sick  ;  and  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  northern  parts  of 
Jndia  and  of  Affghanistan  very  generally  make  use  of 
unfermented  cakes,  similar  to  what  are  called  scones 
in  Scotland.  Such,  then,  being  sufficient  evidence  in 
favor  of  the  wholesomeness  of  unfermented  bread,  it 
becomes  important  to  discover  in  what  respect  it  differs 
from  fermented  bread.  Bread-making  being  a  chemi- 
cal process,  it  is  from  chemistry  alone  that  we  can  ex- 

14* 


162  FERMENTED    AND 

pect  a  solution  of  this  question.  In  the  production  of 
fermented  bread  a  certain  quantity  of  flour,  water,  and 
yeast,  are  mixed  together,  and  formed  into  a  dough  or 
paste,  and  are  allowed  to  ferment  for  a  certain  time  at 
the  expense  of  the  sugar  of  the  flour.  The  mass  is 
then  exposed  in  an  oven  to  an  elevated  temperature, 
which  puts  a  period  to  the  fermentation,  expands  the 
carbonic  acid,  resulting  from  the  decomposed  sugar  and 
air  contained  in  the  bread,  and  expels  the  alcohol  formed, 
and  all  the  water  capable  of  being  removed  by  the  heat 
employed.  The  result  gained  by  this  process  may  be 
considered  to  be  merely  the  expansion  of  the  particles 
of  which  the  loaf  is  composed,  so  as  to  render  the  mass 
more  readily  divisible  by  the  preparatory  organs  of  di- 
gestion. But  as  this  object  is  gained  at  a  sacrifice  of 
the  integrity  of  the  flour,  it  becomes  a  matter  of  inter- 
est to  ascertain  the  amount  of  loss  sustained  in  the  pro- 
cess. To  determine  this  point,  I  had  comparative  ex- 
periments made  upon  a  large  scale  with  fermented  and 
nnfermented  bread.  The  latter  was  raised  by  means 
of  carbonic  acid  generated  by  chemical  means  in  the 
dough.  But  to  understand  the  circumstances,  some 
preliminary  explanation  is  necessary.  Mr.  Henry  of 
Manchester,  in  the  end  of  last  century,  suggested  the 
idea  of  mixing  dough  with  carbonate  of  soda  and  mu- 
riatic acid,  so  as  to  disengage  carbonic  acid  in  imita- 
tion of  the  usual  effect  of  fermentation  ;  but  with  this 
advantage,  that  the  integrity  of  the  flour  was  preserved, 
and  that  the  elements  of  the  common  salt  required  as 
a  seasoner  of  the  bread  was  thus  introduced,  and  the 
salt  formed  in  the  dough. 

The  result  of  my  experiments  upon  the  bread  produ- 
ced by  the  action  of  hydrochloric  acid  upon  carbonate 


UNFERMENTED    BREAD.  163 

of  soda,  has  been,  that  in  a  sack  of  flour  there  was  a 
difference  in  favor  of  the  unfermented  bread  to  the 
amount  of  30  lbs.  13  oz.,  or,  in  round  numbers,  a  sack 
of  flour  would  produce  107  loaves  of  unfermented  bread, 
and  only  100  loaves  of  fermented  bread  of  the  same 
weight.  Hence  it  appears,  that  in  the  sack  of  flour  by 
the  common  process  of  baking,  7  loaves,  or  6^  per  cent, 
of  the  flour,  are  driven  into  the  air  and  lost.  An  impor- 
tant question  now  arises  from  the  consideration  of  the 
result  of  this  experiment :  Does  the  loss  arise  entirely 
from  the  decomposition  of  sugar,  or  is  any  other  ele- 
ment of  the  flour  attacked  ? 

It  appears  from  a  mean  of  eight  analyses  of  wheat 
flour  from  different  parts  of  Europe  by  Vauquelin,  that 
the  quantity  of  sugar  contained  in  flour  amounts  to  5*61 
per  cent.  But  it  is  obvious  that,  as  the  quantity  lost 
by  baking  exceeded  this  amount  by  nearly  one  per  cent., 
the  loss  cannot  be  accounted  for  by  the  removal  merely 
of  the  ready-formed  sugar  of  the  flour.  We  must 
either  ascribe  this  extra  loss  to  the  conversion  of  a  por- 
tion of  the  gum  of  the  flour  into  sugar  and  its  decompo- 
sition by  means  of  the  ferment,  which  is  highly  proba- 
ble, or  we  must  attribute  it  to  the  action  of  the  yeast 
upon  another  element  of  the  flour ;  and  if  we  admit 
that  yeast  is  generated  during  the  panary  fermentation, 
then  the  conclusion  would  be  inevitable,  that  another 
element  of  the  flour,  beside  the  sugar,  or  gum,  has  been 
affected.  For  Liebig  has  well  illustrated  the  fact  that 
when  yeast  is  added  to  wort,  ferment  is  formed  from 
the  gluten  contained  in  it,  at  the  same  time  that  the  su- 
gar is  decomposed  into  alcohol  and  carbonic  acid.  Now, 
in  the  panary  fermentation,  which  is  precisely  similar 
to  the  fermentation  of  wort,  we  might  naturally  expect 


164  UNFERMENTED    BREAD. 

that  the  gluten  of  the  flour  would  be  attacked  to  repro- 
duce yeast. 

A  wholesale  and  palatable  bread  may  be  produced 
by  the  employment  of  ammoniacal  alum,  and  carbonate 
of  ammonia,  or  soda  as  a  substitute  for  yeast.  In  this 
process  the  alum  is  destroyed  by  the  heat  :  the  bread 
is  vesicular  and  white,  and  rises,  according  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  baker,  as  well  as  fermented  bread.  It  is 
obvious  that  none  of  the  ingredients  added  can  affect 
the  integrity  of  the  constituents  of  the  flour  ;  an  oc- 
currence which  may  possibly  happen  in  the  preparation 
of  bread  by  the  common  process  of  fermentation,  as  has 
been  shown  even  to  the  azotized  principles  of  the  flour. 
The  disadvantage  of  such  a  deterioration  is  sufficient- 
ly evident,  if  we  view  these  principles  as  the  source  of 
nutrition  in  flour. 

A  good  method  of  making  un fermented  bread  is  to 
take  of  flour  4  pounds.  Sesquicarbonate  of  soda,  (su- 
percarbonate  of  the  shops,)  320  grains.  Hydrochloric 
acid,  (spirit  of  salt  or  muriatic  acid  of  the  shops,)  Q\ 
fluid  drachms.  Common  salt  300  grains.  Water,  35 
ounces  by  measure.  The  soda  is  first  mixed  with  the 
flour  very  intimately.  The  salt  is  dissolved  in  the 
water,  and  added  to  the  acid.  The  whole  being  then 
rapidly  mixed  as  in  common  baking.  The  bread  may 
either  be  baked  in  tins  or  formed  like  cottage  loaves, 
and  should  be  kept  from  one  to  two  hours  in  the  oven. 
Should  the  bread  prove  yellow,  it  is  a  proof  that  the 
soda  has  been  in  excess,  and  indicates  the  propriety  of 
adding  a  small  additional  portion  of  acid  ;  the  acid 
varying  somewhat  in  strength.  The  same  process  may 
be  employed  in  raising  the  other  mixture  previously 
recommended. 


APPENDIX 


166 


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APPENDIX. 


Table  IV. 
Ratios  of  Food,  Milk,  and  Butter. 


BE 

OWN  COW. 

Milk 
every 
five 
Days. 

Barley. 

Grass. 

Hay. 

Drv 
Hay. 

Butter 

every 

fivo  Days. 

Grain 

10 

Milk. 

Butter 

to 
Grain. 

Barley  crushed : 
1st  live  days 

2.1      do.    - 
3d      do.    - 
4th    do.    - 

Malt : 
1st  five  days 

2d      do.    - 
3d      do.    - 

Barley  &  molasses: 

1st  five  days 
2d      do.    - 

Barley  &  linseed : 

1st  five  days 
2d      do.    - 

Bean  meal : 
1st  five  days 

lbs. 
115-68 

lbs. 

42 
3  malt 

lbs. 
240 

lbs. 
65 

lbs. 

134 

lbs. 
3-625 

100  to 

255 
245 
159 

100  to 
1428 

105 
1105 
9576 

45 
45 

60 

26 

153 
132+, 

136 
117i 

111 

3-33 

3-935 

3-26 

311-26 

150 

- 

425 

304-3 

10-525 

214 

97 

95 

98-19 

42 

3  barley 

54 

GO 

- 

135$ 

1294 
119 

114 

108-5 
99-9 

3-44 

3-60 
3-25 

215 

177 
163 

1514 

291-19 

156 

- 

384 

322-46 

10-29 

183 

105-18 
98-5 

Barley. 
45 
45 

Molasses. 

12 
15 

133 
137 

111-75 
11500 

3-63 
3-63 

184 
164 

1611 

233-68 

CO 

27 

270 

226-75 

7-26 

174 

101-18 
104-00 

45 
35 

Linseed. 
15 
25 

129 
138 

1H8-3G 
114-25 

3-689 
3-228 

167 
173 

1736 

205-18 

80 

40 

235 

222-61 

6-917 

170 

99-72 

Beans. 
56 

4 

148 

124-32 

3-69 

166 

1626 

Note. — This  and  the  opposite  Table  are  read  as  follows: — During 
the  second  five  days  of  experiment  the  Cow  afforded  105  lbs.  of  milk 
and  3-33  lbs.  butter,  and  consumed  during  that  period  45  lbs.  barley, 
26  lbs.  grass,  153  lbs.  hay.  The  ratio  of  the  barley  to  the  milk  is  as 
100  to  255,  while  the  relation  of  the  butter  to  the  barley  during  fifteen 
days  is  as  100  to  1428,  or  100  lbs.  of  grain  would  produce  225  lbs.  of 
milk,  and  1428  lbs.  of  grain  would  produce  100  lbs.  of  butter. 


APPENDIX. 


171 


Table  IV. 
Ratios  of  Food,,  Milk,  and  Butter. 


WHITE  COW. 

Milk 
every 
five 
Days. 

Barley. 

Grass. 

Hay. 

Dry 
Hay. 

Butter 

every 

five 

Days. 

Grain 

to 
Milk. 

Butter 

to 
Grain. 

Barley  crushed : 
1st  five  days 

2d      do.    - 
3d      do.    - 
4th    do. 

Malt: 
1st  five  days 

2d      do.    - 
3d      do.    - 

Barley  &  molasses: 

1st  five  days 
2d      do. 

Barley  &.  linseed : 

1st  five  days 
2d      do.    - 

Bean  meal  - 

lbs. 
109-68 

lbs. 
42 

lbs. 
240 

lbs. 
65 

lbs. 
134 

lbs. 
3-19 

100  to 

272 

242 
246 
191 

100  to 
1538 

109-33 
110-68 
107 

45 
45 
56 

26 

153 

172-5 

131-75 

128-5 
144-9 
110-67 

3-333 
3-376 

2-843 

327-01 

146 

26 

457-25 

384-07 

8-552 

224 

106-5 

107-5 
111-5 

Malt. 

42 

3  barley 
54 
60 

- 

150 

147 
147-5 

126 

123-48 
123-9 

3-126 

3072 
2937 

240 

198 
185 

1715 

325-5 

^56 

3  barley- 

444-5  J  373-38 

9-135 

209 

112 
112-5 

Barley. 
45 
45 

Molasses. 
12 
15 

131-75 

142  25 

110-67 
119-49 

3-26 
3-26 

196 
189 

1800 

224-5 

90 

27 

274-00 

230-16 

6-52 

192 

113 

117-68 

45 
35 

Linseed. 

15        117-5 
25       1 131-75 

98-7 
110-67 

3-406 
3421 

188 
196 

192 

1760 

230-68 

80 

40        249-25 

209-37 

6-827 

115-628 

56 

4      j  146 

122-64 

3-76 

193 

1590 

Table  V. 
Amount  of  Wax  and  Oil  in  different  Kinds  of  Food, 
and  in  Dung. 


Rye-grass   - 

Wax  per  cent. 

Barley  ------ 

Oil  per  cent 

201 

2-18 

Rye-grass  hay  - 

2-00 

Malt     -      -      -      - 

1-37 

Moist  grass  dung     - 

0-312 

Bean  meal  - 

2035 

Moist  hay  dung 

0-600 

Linseed  meal    - 

4-00 

Dry  grass  dung 

2-67 

Dry  hay  dung   - 

3-82 

172 


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Elliot's  (F.  R.)  American  Fruit-Grower's  Guide  in  Orchard 

and  Garden:  being  a  Compend  of  the  History,  Modes  of  Propagation,  Culture,  &<x, 
of  Fruit,  Trees,  and  Shrubs,  with  descriptions  of  nearly  all  the  varieties  of  Fruits  cul- 
tivated in  this  country;  and  Notes  of  their  adaptation  to  localities,  soils,  and  a  com- 
plete list  of  Fruits  worthy  of  cultivation.    By  F.  R.  Elliot,  Pomologist    Price  $1  24 

1 


Boohs  Published  by  C.  M.  Saxton  &  Co. 


Pardee  (R.  G.)  on  Strawberry  Culture. 

A  Complete  Manual  for  the  Cultivation  of  the  Strawberry;  with  a  description  of  the 
best  varieties. 

Also,  Notices  of  the  Raspberry,  Blackberry,  Currant,  Gooseberry,  and  Grape;  -with 
directions  for  their  cultivation,  and  the  selection  of  the  best  varieties.  "  Every  pro. 
cess  here  recommended  has  been  proved,  the  plans  of  others  tried,  and  the  result  is 
here  given."  With  a  valuable  Appendix,  containing  the  observations  and  experience 
of  some  of  the  most  successful  cultivators  of  these  fruits  in  our  country.    Price  6(3  cents. 

Dana's  Muck  Manual  for  the  use  of  Farmers. 

A  Treatise  on  the  Physical  and  Chemical  Properties  of  Soils,  the  Chemibtry  of 
Manures  ;  including  also  the  subjects  of  composts,  artificial  manures  and  irrigation. 
A  new  edition,  with  a  chapter  on  Bones  and  Superphosphates.    $1. 

The  Stable  Book. 

A  Treatise  on  the  Management  of  Horses,  in  relation  to  Stabling,  Grooming,  Feed- 
ing, Watering,  and  Working,  Construction  of  Stables,  Ventilation,  Appendages  of 
Stables,  Management  of  the  Feet,  and  Management  of  Diseased  and  Defective 
Horses.  By  John  Stewart,  Veterinary  Surgeon.  With  notes  and  additions  adapting 
it  to  American  Food  and  Climate.  By  A.  B.  Allen,  editor  of  the  American  Agncul 
turist.     $1. 

Chorlton's  Grape  Grower's  Guide. 

Intended  especially  for  the  American  Climate.  Being  a  Practical  Treatise  on  tho 
Cultivation  of  the  Grape  Vine  in  each  department  of  Hot  House,  Cold  Grapery, 
Retarding  House,  and  Out-door  Culture.  With  plans  for  the  construction  of  tho 
requisite  buildings,  and  giving  the  best  methods  of  heating  the  same.  Every  depart- 
ment being  fully  illustrated.  By  William  Chorlton,  author  of  "  The  Cold  Grapery," 
&c.    Price  60  cts. 

White's  (W.  N.)  Gardening  for  the  South ; 

Or,  the  Kitchen  and  Fruit  Garden,  with  the  best  methods  for  their  Cultivation  ; 
together  with  hints  upon  Landscape  and  Flower  Gardening;  containing  modes  of 
culture  and  descriptions  of  the  species  and  varieties  of  the  Culinary  Vegetables, 
Fruit  Trees  and  Fruits,  and  a  select  list  of  Ornamental  Trees  and  Plants,  found  by 
trial  adapted  to  the  States  of  the  Union  south  of  Pennsylvania,  with  Gardening 
Calendars  for  the  same.    By  Wm.  N.  White,  of  Athens,  Georgia.    Price  $1  25. 

Eastwood's  (B.)  Manual  for  the  Culivation  of  the  Cranberry. 

With  a  description'of  the  best  varieties.  By  B.  Eastwood,  "  Septimus"  of  tho  New 
York  Tribune.    Price  50  cts. 

Johnson's  (Geo.  W.)  Dictionary  of  Modern  Gardening. 

With  One  Hundred  and  Eighty  Wood  Cuts.  Ec  ited,  with  numerous  additions,  by 
David  Landreth,  of  Philadelphia.    Price  $1  50. 

Persoz'    Culture  of  the  Vine. 

A  iSew  Process  for  the  Culture  of  the  Vine,  bv  Persoz,  Professor  to  the  Faculty  of 
Sciences  of  Strasbourg;  directing  Professor  of  the  School  of  Pharmacy  of  the  same 
city.  Translatad  by  J.  O.  C.  Barclay,  Surgeon.  U.  S.  N.  Price,  paper,  25  cents; 
cloth,  50  cents. 


Boohs  Published  by  C.  M.  Saxton  &  Co, 


Johnston's  (James  F.  W.)  Catechism  of  Agricultural  Chemis- 
try and  Geology.  By  James  F.  W.  Johnston,  M.  A ,  F.  12.  SS.  L.  and  E.,  Honorary 
Member  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England,  and  author  of ':  Lectures  on 
Agricultural  Chemistry  and  Geology.'"  With  an  Introduction  by  John  Pitkin  Nor- 
ton, M.  A.,  late  Professor  of  Suientific  Agriculture  in  Yale  College.  "Willi  Notes  and 
Additions  by  the  Author,  prepared  expressly  for  this  edition,  aud  an  Appendix  com- 
piled by  the  Superintendent  of  Education  in  Nova  Scotia.  Adapted  to  the  use  of 
Bchools.     Price  25  cts. 

Johnston's  (James  F.  W.)  Agricultural  Chemistry, 

Lectures  on  the  Application  of  Chemistry  and  Geology  to  Agriculture.  New  edition, 
with  an  Appendix,  containing  the  Author's  Experiments  in  Practical  Agriculture.  $1.25, 

Smith's  (C.  H.  J.)  Landscape  Gardening",  Parks  and  Pleasure 

Grounds.  "With  Practical  Notes  on  "Country  Residences,  Villas,  Public  Parks,  and 
Gardens.  By  Charles  II.  J.  Smith,  Landscape  Gardener  and  Garden  Architect,  &c. 
With  Notes  and  Additions  by  Lewis  F.  Allen,  author  of  "Rural  Architecture,"  &c. 

The  author,  while  engaged  in  his  profession  for  the  last  eighteen  years,  has  often 
been  requested  to  recommend  a  book  which  might  enable  persons  to  acquire  soma 
general  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  Landscape  Gardening. 

The  object  of  the  present  work  is  to  preserve  a  plain  and  direct  method  of  statement, 
to  be  intelligible  to  a  1  who  have  had  an  ordinary  education,  and  to  give  directions 
which,  it  is  hoped,  will  be  found  to  be  practical  by  those  who  have  an  adequate 
knowledge  of  country  affairs.     Price  $1  25. 

Norton's  (John  Pj  Elements  of  Scientific  Agriculture; 

Or,  the  Connexion  between  Science  and  the  Art  of  Practical  Faim'ng.  (Prize  E«saj> 
of  the  New  York  State  Agricultural  Society.)  By  John  P.  Norton,  M.  A.,  Professor 
of  Scientific  Agriculture  it.  Yale  College.  Adapted  to  the  use  of  Schools.  Price  6J 
cent*. 

Nash's  (J.  A.)  Progressive  Farmer. 

A  Scientific  Treatise  on  Agricultural  Chemistry,  the  Geology  of  Agriculture,  on  Plants 
and  Animals,  Manures  and  Soils  applied  to  Practical  Agriculture;  with  a  Catechism 
of  Scientific  and  Practical  Agriculture.    By  J.  A.  Nash.    Price  60  cents. 

Chorlton's  (Wm.)  Cold  Grapery. 

From  direct  American  Practice:  being  a  concise  and  detailed  Treatise  on  the  Cultiva- 
tion of  the  Exotic  Grape  Vine,  under  Glass  without  artificial  heat.  By  Wm.  Chorl- 
ton,  Gardener  to  J.  C.  Green,  Esq .  Staten  Island,  N.  Y.    Price  6J  cents. 

Allen  (J.  Fisk)  on  the  Culture  of  the  Grape. 

A  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Culture  and  Treatment  of  the  Grape  Vine,  embracing  its 
history,  with  directions  for  its  treatment  in  the  United  States  of  America,  in  tha  open 
ai  and  under  glass  structures,  with  aud  without  artificial  heat.  By  J.  Fisk  Allen. 
Prico  $1. 

Eoare  (Clement)  on  the  Grape  Vine. 

A  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Cultivation  of  the  Grape  Vine  on  Open  "Walls,  wltll  a 
Descriptive  Account  of  an  improved  method  of  Planting  and  Managing  the  Ro^ts  ol 
©rape  Vines.  By  Clement  Iloare.  "With  an  Appendix  on  the  Cultivation  of  thu  sam# 
is  the  Un'ted  States.    50  cents. 


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Mysteries  of  Bee-keeping  Explained ; 

Being  a  Complete  Analysis  of  the  -whole  subject,  consisting  of  the  Natural  History  of 
Bees;  Directions  for  Obtaining  the  greatest  amount  of  Pure  Surplus  Honey  •with  the 
least  possible  expense;  Remedies  for  Losses  given,  and  the  Science  of  Luck,  fully 
illustrated ;  the  result  of  more  than  twenty  yeare1  experience  in  extensive  Apiaries 
By  M.  Quinby.    Price  $1. 

American  Bee-keeper's  Manual; 

Being  a  Practical  Treatise  on  the  History  and  Domestic  Economy  of  the  Honey  Bee; 
embracing  a  full  illustration  of  the  whole  subject,  with  the  most  approved  methods  af 
managing  this  Insect,  through  every  branch  of  its  Culture;  the  result  of  many  ye&ra' 
experience.    Illustrated  with  many  engravings.    By  T.  B.  Miner.    Cloth,  $1. 

The  Cottage  and  Farm  Bee-keeper ;  • 

A  Practical  "Work,  by  a  Country  Curate,    50  cents. 

Weeks  (John  M.)  on  Bees.— A  Manual; 

Or,  an  Easy  Method  of  Managing  Bees  in  the  most  profitable  manner  to  their  owner; 
with  infallible  rules  to  prevent  their  destruction  by  the  Moth.  "With  an  Appendix  by 
Wooster  A.  Flanders.    Price  50  cts. 

The  Eose; 

Being  a  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Propagation,  Cultivation,  and  Management  of  the 
Bose  in  all  Seasons;  with  a  List  of  Choice  and  Approved  Varieties,  adapted  to  the 
Climate  of  the  United  States;  to  which  is  added  Full  Directions  for  the  Treatment  of 
the  Dahlia.    Illustrated  by  engravings.    Cloth,  50  cts. 

Buist's  (Eobert)  American  Flower-Garden  Directory; 

Containing  Practical  Directions  for  the  Culture  of  Plants,  in  the  Flower-Garden,  Hot- 
House,  Green-House,  Rooms,  or  Parlor  Windows,  for  every  Month  in  the  Year;  with 
a  description  of  the  Plants  most  desirable  in  each,  the  Nature  of  the  Soil  and  Situation 
best  adapted  to  their  Growth,  the  Proper  Season  for  Transplanting,  &c. ;  with  Instruc- 
tions for  erecting  a  Hot-House,  Green-House,  and  Laying  out  a  Flower-Garden ;  the 
whole  adapted  to  either  large  or  small  Gardens;  with  Instructions  for  Preparing  the 
Boil,  Propagating,  Planting,  Pruning,  Training,  and  Fruiting  the  Grape  Vine.  Price 
$1  25. 

Blasts'  (Eobert)  Family  Kitchen  Gardener; 

Containing  Plain  and  Accurate  Descriptions  of  all  the  different  Species  and  Varieties 
of  Culinary  Vegetables,  with  their  Botanical,  English,  French,  and  German  names, 
alphabetically  arranged,  and  the  best  mode  of  cultivating  them  in  the  garden  or  under 
glass;  also,  Descriptions  and  Character  of  the  most  Select  Fruits,  their  Management, 
Propagation,  &c.  By  Robert  Buist,  author  of  the  "  American  Flower-Garden  Direc- 
tory," &c.    Cloth,  75  cts. ;  paper  50  cts. 


The  American  Florist's  Guicte; 


Comprising  the  An    rican  Bo^e  Culturist  and  Every  Lady  her  own  Flower  Gardener 

Half  cloth.  75  cts. 


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Every  Lady  Her  own  Flower  Gardener; 

Addressed  to  the  Industrious  and  Economical  only ;  containing  Simple  and  Practical 
Directions  for  Cultivating  Plants  and  Flowers;  also,  Hints  for  the  Management  of 
Flowers  in  Booms,  with  brief  Botanical  Descriptions  of  Plants  and  Flowers.  The 
whole  in  plain  and  simple  language.    By  Louisa  Johnson.*  Cloth,  pf-ce  50  eta. 

The  American  Agriculturist; 

Being  a  Collection  of  Original  Articles  on  the  Various  Subjects  connected  with  tha 
Farm,  in  ten  vols.  8vo.,  containing  nearly  four  thousand  pages.    $10. 

The  Complete  Farmer  and  American  Gardener, 

Eural  Economist,  and  New  American  Gardener,  containing  a  Compendious  Epitome  of 
the  most  Important  Branches  of  Agricultural  and  Rural  Economy;  with  Practical  Di- 
rections on  the  Cultivation  of  Fruits  and  Vegetables ;  including  Landscape  and  Orna- 
mental Gardening.    By  Thomas  G.  Fessenden.    2  vols,  in  one.    $1  25. 

Fessenden's  (T.  G.)  American  Kitchen  Gardener; 

Containing  Directions  for  the  Cultivation  of  Vegetables  and  Garden  Fruits.  Cloth, 
price  50  cts. 

Dadd's  (Geo.  H.)  American  Cattle  Doctor; 

Containing  the  necessary  information  for  preserving  the  health  and  curing  the  diseases 
of  Oxen.  Cows,  Sheep,  and  Swine,  with  a  great  variety  of  original  receipts,  and  valu- 
able information  in  reference  to  Farm  and  Dairy  management,  whereby  every  man 
can  be  his  own  Cattle  Doctor.  The  principles  taught  in  this  work  are,  that  all  medi- 
cation shall  be  subservient  to  nature— that  all  medicines  must  be  sanative  in  their 
operation,  and  administered  -with  a  view  of  aiding  the  vital  powers,  instead  of  depres* 
sing,  as  heretofore,  with  the  lancet  or  by  poison.  By  G-.  H.  Dadd,  M.  D.,  Veterinary 
Practitioner.    Price  $1. 

Browne's  (D.  Jay)  Field  Book  of  Manures: 

Or,  American  Muck  Bock;  treating  of  the  Nature,  Properties,  Sources,  History,  and 
Operations  of  all  the  Principal  Fertilizers  and  Manures  in  Common  Use,  with  Specific 
Directions  for  their  Preservation,  and  Application  to  the  Soil  and  to  Crops;  drawn 
from  Authentic  Sources,  Actual  Experience,  and  Personal  Observation,  as  com- 
bined with  the  leading  Principles  of  Practical  and  Scientific  Agriculture.  By  D.  JDy 
Browne.    $1  25. 

Kandali's  (H.  S.)  Sheep  Husbandry; 

With  an  account  of  the  different  breeds,  and  general  directions  in  regard  to  Summsi 
and  Winter  management,  breeding,  and  the  treatment  of  diseases,  with  portraits  and 
other  engravings.    By  Henry  S.  Eandall.    Price  $1  25. 

Blake's  (Esv.  John  L.)  Farmer  at  Home. 

A  Family  Text  Book  for  the  Country;  beng  a  Cyclopaedia  of  Agricultural  Impl> 
ments  and  Productions,  and  of  the  more  Important  Topics  in  Domestic  Economy 
Science  and  Literature;  adajted  to  Eural  Life.  By  Eev.  John  L,  Blake  D  tt 
$J  25. 


6  Books  Published  by  C.  31.  Saxton  <£  Co. 

Youatt  and  Martin  on  Cattle; 

Being  a  Treatise  on  their  Breeds,  Management  and  Diseases,  comprising  a  full  History 
of  the  Various  Races;  their  Origin,  Breeding,  and  Merits;  their  capacity  for  Beef  and 
Mi"*  jrfv  W.  Youatt  and  W.  C.  L.  Martin.  The  whole  forming  a  complete  Guide 
for  the  Farmer,  the  Amateur,  and  the  Veterinary  Surgeon,  with  100  illustrations. 
Edited  by  Ambrose  Stevens.    $1  25. 

Youatt  on  the  Horse. 

Youatt  on  the  Structure  and  Diseases  of  the  Horse,  with  their  Remedies.  Also,  Prac- 
tical Rules  for  Bayers,  Breeders,  Smiths,  &c.  Edited  by  W.  C.  Spooner,  M.  R.  O.V.  8. 
"With  an  account  of  the  Breeds  in  the  United  States,  by  Henry  S.  Randall.    $1  25. 

Youatt  and  Martin  on  the  Hog. 

A  Treatise  on  the  Breeds,  Management  and  Medical  Treatment  of  Swine,  with  direc- 
tions for  Salting  Pork  and  Curing  Bacon  and  Harm.  By  Wm.  Youatt,  R.  S  and  W. 
C.  L.  Martin.  Edited  by  Ambrose  Stevens.  Illustrated  with  engravings  drawn  from 
life.    75  cts. 

Youatt  on  Sheep; 

Their  Breed,  Management,  and  Diseases,  with  illustrative  engravings;  to  winch  are 
added  Remarks  on  the  Breeds  and  Management  of  Sheep  in  the  United  States,  and  on 
the  Culture  of  Fine  Wool  in  Silesia.    By  William  Youatt    75  eta. 

American  Architect. 

The  American  Architect,  comprising  Original  Designs  of  cheap  Country  and  Village 
Residences,  with  Details,  Specifications,  Plans,  and  Directions,  and  an  estimate  of  the 
Cost  of  each  Design.  By  John  W.  Ritch,  Architect,  First  and  Second  Series,  quarto 
bound  in  1  vol.,  half  roan,  l§6 

Domestic  Medicine. 

Gunn's  Domestic  Medicine,  or  Poor  Man's  Friend,  in  the  Hours  of  Affliction,  Pain,  and 
Sickness,  Raymond's  new  revised  edition,  improved  and  enlarged  by  John  C.  Gunn, 
8vo.     Sheep,  $3. 

Pedder's  (James)  Farmer's  Land  Measurer; 

Or,  Pocket  Companion  ;  showing  atone  view,  the  Contents  of  any  Piece  of  Land  from 
Dimensions  taken  in  Yards.     With  a  set  of  Useful  Agricultural  Tables.     Price  50  cts. 

Chemical  Field  Lectures  for  Agriculturists; 

Or,  Chemistry  without  a  Master.  By  Dr.  Julius  Adolphus  Stockhardt,  Professor  in 
ihe  Royal  Academy  of  Agriculture  at  Tharant.  Translated  from  the  German.  Edited, 
with  notes,  by  James  E.  Teschemacher.    Price  $1. 

Thaer's  (Albert  D.)  Agriculture. 

The  Principles  of  Agriculture,  by  Albert  D.  Thayer  ;  translated  by  William  Shaw  and 
Cuthbert  W.  Johnson,  Esq.,  F.R.S.  With  a  Memoir  of  the  Author.  1  vol.  8vo, 
strong  cloth.     Price  $2. 

This  work  is  regarded  by  those  who  are  competent  to  judge,  as  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  works  that  has  ever  appeared  on  the  subject  of  agriculture  At  the  same 
time  that  it  is  eminently  practical,  it  is  philosophical,  and,  even  to  the  general  reader, 
remarkably  entertaining. 

Von  Thaer  was  educated  for  a  physician  ;  and,  after  reaching  the  summit  of  hie  pro- 
fession., he  retired  into  the  country,  where  bis  garden  soon  became  the  admiration  of 


Books  Published  by  C.  M.  Saxton  <&  Co. 


the  citizens;  and  when  he  began  to  lay  >ut p jantations and  orchards, to  cultivate  herb- 
age and  vegetables,  the  whole  country  was  *>stonished  at  his  science  in  the  art  of  culti- 
;     vation.    He  soon  entered  upon  a  large  farrirj,  and  opened  a  school  for  the  study  of  Agri- 
culture, where  his  fame  became  known  from  one  end  of  Europe  to  the  other. 

This  great  work  of  Von  Thaer's  has  passed  through  four  editions  in  the  United 
States,  but  it  is  still  comparatively  unknown.  The  attention  of  owners  of  landed; 
estates  in  cities  and  towns,  &3  well  ks  those  persons  engaged  in  the  practical  pursuits  0/ 
agriculture,  is  earnestly  requested  to  this  volume. 

Guenon  on  Milch  Cows; 

A  Treatise  on  Milch  Cows,  whereby  the  Quality  and  Quantity  of  Milk  which  any  Cow 
will  give  may  be  accurately  determined  by  observing  Natural  Marks  or  External  In- 
dications alone ;  the  length  of  time  she  will  continue  to  give  Milk,  &c,  &c.  By  M.  Francis 
Guenon,  of  Libourne,  France.  Translated  by  Nicholas  P.  Trist,  Esq  ;  with  Introduc- 
tory Eemarks  and  Observations  on  the  Cow  and  the  Dairy,  by  John  S.  Skinner.  Illus- 
trated with  numerous  Engiavings.  Price,  neatly  done  up  in  paper  covers,  STi  cts. 
bound  in  cloth,  62}  ct&. 


American  Poultry  Yard. 

The  American  Poultry  Yard;  comprising  the  Origin,  History,  and  Description  of  the 
different  Breeds  of  Domestic  Poultry,  with  complete  directions  for  their  Breeding, 
Crossing,  Rearing,  Fattening,  and  Preparation  for  Market;  including  specific  directions 
for  Caponizing  Fowls,  and  for  the  Treatment  of  the  Principal  Diseases  to  which  they 
are  subject,  drawn  from  authentic  sources  and  personal  observation.  Illustrated  with 
numerous  engravings.    By  D.  J.  Browne.    Cloth,  $1. 

The  Shepherd's  Own  Book ; 

With  an  Account  of  the  different  Breeds  and  Management  and  Diseases  of  Sheep, 
and  General  Directions  in  regard  to  Summer  and  Winter  Management,  Breeding,  and 
the  Treatment  of  Diseases;  with  illustrative  engravings,  by  Youatt  &  Randall,  em- 
bracing Skinners  Notes  on  the  Breed  and  Management  of  Sheep  in  the  United  States, 
and  on  the  Culture  of  Fine  Wool.    Price  §2. 

Allen's  (I.  F.)  .Sural  Architecture; 

Being  a  complete  description  of  Farm  Houses,  Cottages,  and  Out  Buildings,  comprising 
Wood-honses,  Workshops,  Tool-houses,  Carriage  and  Wagon  houses,  Stable?,  Smoke 
and  Ash  houses,  Ice  houses,  Apiaries  or  Bee  houses,  Poultry  bouses,  Babbitry,  Dove- 
cote, Piggery,  Barns,  and  Sheds  for  Cattle,  &c,  &c. ;  together  with  Lawns,  Pleasure 
Grounds,  and  Parks ;  the  Flower,  Fruit,  and  Vegetable  Garden ;  also,  Useful  and  Or- 
naaiental  Domestic  Animals  for  the  Country  Resident,  &c,  &c  Also,  the  best  method 
of  conducting  water  into  Cattle  Yards  and  Houses.  Beautifully  illustrated.  Price 
n  25.  ... 

Allen's  (S.  I.)  American  Farm  Book. 

The  American  Farm  Book;  or,  a  Compend  of  American  Agriculture,  bei-  g  a  Prac- 
tical Treatise  on  Soils,  Manures,  Draining,  Irrigation,  Grasses,  Grain,  Roots,  Fr«ita, 
Cotton,  Tobacco,  Sugar  Cane,  Rice,  and  every  Staple  Product  of  the  Uni  ed  Stales; 
with  the  best  methods  of  pksiti  ig,  cultivating,  and  preparation  for  market  Illustrated 
by  inor  j  than  100  engravings.     3y  R.  L.  Allen.    Cloth,  $1. 


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Reemelin's  (Chas.)  Vine-dresser's  Manual. 

An  illustrated  treatise  on  Vineyards  and  "Wine-making,  containing  full  instructions 
as  to  location  and  soil  ;  preparation  of  ground  ;  selection  and  propagation  of  vines  ; 
the  treatment  of  a  young  Vineyard,  trimming  and  training  the  vines  ;  manures  and 
the  making  of  wine.     Cloth,  50  cts. 

Bement's  (C.  N.)  Babbit  Fancier. 

A  Treatise  on  the  Breeding,  Rearing,  Feeding  and  General  Management  of  Rabbits, 
with  remarks  upon  their  diseases  and  remedies,  to  which  are  added  full  directions 
for  the  construction  of  Hutches,  Rabbitries,  &c,  together  with  recipes  for  cooking 
and  dressing  for  the  table.     Beautifully  illustrated.     Cloth,  50  eta. 

The  Horse's  Foot,  and  how  to  keep  it  Sound. 

"With  cuts  illustrating  the  anatomy  of  the  Foot,  and  containing  valuable  hints  on 
ehoeing  and  stable  management  in  health  and  in  disease.  By  William  Miles.  Goth, 
50  cts. 

Stephens'  (Henry)  Book  of  the  Farm ; 

A  Complete  Guide  to  the  Fiirmer,  Steward,  Plowman,  Cattleman,  Shepherd.  Field 
Worker,  and  Dairy  Maid.  By  Henry  Stephens.  With  Four  Hundred  and  Fifty 
Illustrations;  to  which  are  added  Explanatory  Notes,  Remarks,  &c,  by  J.  S.  Skinner 
neatly  one  of  the  best  books  for  a  Farmer  to  possess    Cloth,  $i. 

Allen's  (E.  L.)  Diseases  of  Domestic  Animals; 

Bolrig  a  HistoTy  and  Description  of  the  Horse,  Mule,  Cattle,  Sheep,  Swine,  Poultry, 
and  Farm  Dogs,  with  Directions  for  their  Management,  Breeding,  Crossing,  Rearing, 
Feeding,  and  Preparation  for  a  profitable  Market;  also,  their  Diseases  and  Remedies, 
together  with  full  Directions  for  the  Management  of  the  Dairy,  and  the  Comparative 
Economy  and  Advantages  of  WorkiDg  Animals,  the  Horse,  Mule,  Oxen,  &c.  By  R 
L.  Allen.    Cloth,  ?5  eta 

Browne's  (D.  J.)  American  Bird  Fancier; 

Considered  with  reference  to  the  Breeding,  EeariDg,  Feeding,  Management,  and 
Peculiarities  of  Cage  and  House  Birds.  Illustrated  with  Engravings.  By  D.  Jay 
Browne.  50  ct3 

Saxton's  Eural  Hand  Books,    •  .       .       .       $1  25 

First  Series,  containing  Treatises  on — 
The  Horse,  The  Pests  of  the  Farm, 

The  Hog,  Domestic  Fowls,  and 

The  Honey  Bee,  The  Cow. 

Saxton's  Rural  Hand  Books, $l  25 

Second  Series,  containing — 
Every  Lady  Her  Owu  Flower  Gardener,        Essay  on  Manures, 
Elements  of  Agriculture,  American  Kitcl-eo  GardoTer, 

Bird  Fancier,  American  Rose  Guitarist. 

Saxton's  Eural  Hand  Books,  $1  2o 

Third  Series,  containing— 
Miles  on  the<Horse's  Foot,  Vine-dresser's  Mnnual, 

The  Rabbit  Fancier,  Bee-keeper's  Chart, 

Weeks  oa  Bee^  Gteniiairy  made  Eaay 


Books  Published  by  C.  M.  Saxton  fy  Co. 


Boussingault's  (J.  B.)  Rural  Economy, 

In  its  relations  with  Chemistry,  Physics,  and  Meteorology;  or,  Chemistry  applied 
to  Agriculture.  By  J.  B.  Boussingault.  Translated,  with  Notes,  etc.,  by  George 
Law,  Agriculturist. 

"  The  work  is  the  fruit  of  a  long  life  of  study  and  experiment,  and  its  perusal 
will  aid  the  farmer  greatly  in  obtaining  a  practical  and  scientific  knowledge  of  his 
profession."    $1  25. 

Thompson  (R.  D.)  on  the  Food  of  Animals. 

Experimental  Researches  on  the  Food  of  Animals  and  the  Fattening  of  Cattle; 
with  remarks  on  the  Food  of  Man.  Based  upon  experiments  undertaken  by  order 
of  the  British  Government,  by  Robert  Dundas  Thompson,  M.D.,  Lecturer  on  Prac- 
tical Chemistry,  University  of  Glasgow.    75  cts. 

Richardson  on  Dogs :  their  Origin  and  Varieties. 

Directions  as  to  their  general  Management.     With  numerous  original  anecdotes. 
Also,  Complete  Instructions  as  to  Treatment  under  Disease.     By  H.  D.  Richardson. 
Illustrated  with  numerous  wood  engravings.     25  cts.  paper;  cloth,  50  cts. 
This  is  not  on'y  a  cheap,  but  one  of  the  best  works  ever  published  on  the  Dog. 

Liebig's  (Justus)  Familiar  Letters  on  Chemistry, 

And  its  relation  to  Commerce,  Physiology,  and  Agriculture.  Edited  by  John 
Gardner,  M.D.    Paper,  25  cts.;  cloth,  50  cts. 

The  Dog  and  Gun. 

A  few  Loose  Chapters  on  Shooting,  among  which  will  be  found  some  anecdotes 
and  incidents.  Also  instructions  for  Dog  Breaking,  and  interesting  letters  from 
Sportsmen.     By  A  Bad  Shot.    Price  50  cts. 

Johnston's  (J.  F.  W.)  Elements  of  Agricultural  Chemistry 

and  Geology.  With  a  Complete  Analytical  and  Alphabetical  Index,  and  an 
American  Preface.  By  Hon.  Simon  Brown,  Editor  of  the  "New  England  Farm- 
er."   Price  SI. 


SAXTON'S 

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Hogs; 

Their  Origin  and  Varieties  ;  Management,  with  a  View  to  Profit,  and  Treatment  under 
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Flesh.  By  H.  D.  Eichardson,  author  of  "  The  Hive  and  the  Honey  Bee,"  &e.i  &0. 
"With  illustrations— 12mo. 

The  Hive  and  the  Honey  Bee ; 

With  p'ain  directions  for  obtaining  a  considerable  Annual  Income  from  this  branch  of 
Rural  Economy;  also  an  Account  of  the  Diseases  of  Bees,  and  their  Remedies,  and 
Remarks  as  to  their  Enemies,  and  the  best  mode  of  protecting  the  Hives  from  their  at- 
tacks.   By  II.  D.  Eichardson.    With  illustrations. 

Domestic  Fowls; 

Their  Natural  History,  Breeding,  Bearing,  and  General  Management.  By  H.  D. 
Eichardson,  author  of  "The  Natural  History  of  the  Fossil  Deer,"  &c.  With  Illus- 
trations. 

The  Horse; 

Their  Origin  and  Varieties;  with  Plain  Directions  as  to  the  Breeding,  Rearing,  and 
General  Management,  with  Instructions  as  to  the  Treatment  of  Disease.  Handsomely 
Illustrated— 12mo.    By  H.  D.  Eichardson. 

The  Rose ; 

The  American  Eose  Culturist;  being  a  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Propagation,  Cultiva- 
tion, and  Management  in  all  Seasons,  &c.  With  full  directions  for  the  Treatment  of 
the  Dahlia. 

The  Pests  of  the  Farm ; 

With  Instructions  for  their  Extirpation;  being  a  Manual  of  Plain  Directions  for  tho 
certain  Destruction  of  every  description  of  Vermin.  With  numerous  illustrations  on 
Wood. 

An  Essay  on  Manures; 

Submitted  to  the  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture, 
for  their  Premium.    By  Samuel  H.  Dana. 

The  American  Bird  Fancier; 

•*  Considered  with  reference  to  the  Breeding,  Rearing,  Feeding,  Management,  and  Pe- 
culiarities of  Cage  and  House  Birds.  Illustrated  with  Engravings.  By  D.  Jay 
Browne. 

Chemistry  Made  Easy. 

For  the  Use  of  Farmers.    By  J.  Topham. 

Elements  of  Agriculture. 

Translated  from  the  French,  and  Adapted  to  the  use  of  American  Farmers.  By  F.  G. 
Skinner. 

The  American  Kitchen  Gardener; 

Containing  Directions  for  the  Cultivation  of  Vegetables  and  Garden  Fruits.  By  T.  G. 
Fessendeo. 

10 


Books  Published  by  C>  M.  Sax  ton  &  Co.  11 


The  Bee  Keeper's  Chart; 

Being  a  brief  practical  Treatise  on  the  Instinct,  Habits,  and  Manngement  of  the  Honey 
Bee,  in  all  its  various  Branches,  the  result  of  many  years'  practical  experience,  whereby 
the  auf.or  has  been  enabled  to  divest  the  subject  of  much  that  has  been  considered 
mysterious  and  difficult  to  overcome,  and  render  it  more  sure,  profitable,  and  interest- 
ing to  every  one  than  it  has  heretofore  been.    By  E.  W.  Phelps. 

Every  Lady  Her  Own  Flower  Gardener ; 

Addressed  to  the  Industrious  and  Economical  only;  containing  Simple  and  Practical 
Directions  for  Cultivating  Plants  and  Flowers:  also,  Hints  for  the  Management  of 
Flowers  in  Rooms, -with  brief  Botanical  Descriptions  of  Plants  and  Flowers.  The 
whole  in  plain  and  simple  language.    By  Louisa  Johnson. 

The  Cow :  Dairy  Husbandry  and  Cattle  Breeding. 

By  M  M.  Milburn,  and  revised  by  H.  D.  Eichardson  and  Ambrose  Stevens.  With  Il- 
lustrations. 

Wilson  on  the  Culture  of  Flax; 

Its  Treatment,  Agricultural  and  Technical;  delivered  before  the  New  York  SMe  A  gri. 
cultural  Society,  at  the  Annual  Fair,  held  at  Saratoga,  in  September  last,  by  John  Wil- 
son, late  President  of  the  Eoyal  Agricultural  College  at  Cirencester,  England. 

Weeks  on  Bees.— A  Manual ; 

Or,  an  Easy  Method  of  Managing  Bees  in  the  most  profitable  manner  to  their  owner, 
with  infallible  rules  to  prevent  their  destruction  by  the  Moth  ;  with  an  appendix  by 
Wooster  A.  Flanders. 

Reemelin's  (Chas.)  Vine-dresser's  Manual. 

Containing  full  instructions  as  to  location  and  soil  ;  preparation  of  ground  ;  selection 
and  propagation  of  vines  ;  the  treatment  of  a  young  Vineyard  ;  trimming  and  train- 
ing the  vines  ;  manures  and  the  making  of  wine.    Every  department  illustrated. 

Bement's  (C.  U.)  Babbit  Fancier. 

A  Treatise  on  the  Breeding,  Rearing,  Feeding  and  General  Management  of  Rabbits, 
with  remarks  upon  their  diseases  and  remedies  ;  to  which  are  added  full  directions 
for  the  construction  of  Hutches,  Babbitries.,  &c,  together  with  recipes  for  cooking 
and  dressing  for  the  table. 

The  Horse's  Foot,  and  how  to  keep  it  Sound. 

With  cuts  illustrating  the  anatomy  of  the  Foot,  and  containing  valuable  hints  on 
shoeing  and  stable  management  both  in  health  and  disease.    By  William  Miles. 

The  Skilful  Housewife, 

Or,  Complete  Guide  to  Domestic  Cookery,  Taste,  Comfort  and  Economy,  embracing 
659  receipts  pertaining  to  Household  Duties,  the  care  of  Health,  Gardening,  Birds, 
Education  of  Children,  etc.,  etc.     By  Mrs.  L.  G.  AbeiJ. 


C.  M.  Saxton  &  Co.,  Publishers,  140 Fulton  Street,  New  York. 


THE  BEST  WOEK  ON  THE  HORSE. 


PRICE    ONE    DOLLAR. 


C.  M.  Saxton  &  Co.  have  just  pubxished 

THE  STABLE  BOOK; 

A.  Treatise  on  the  Management  of  Horses,  in  relation  to  Stabling, 
Grooming,  Eeeding,  Watering,  and  Working. 

BY  JOHN   STEWAET, 

Veterinary  Surgeon,  and  Professor  of  Veterinary  Medicine  in  the  Andersonian  University,  Glasgow. 

WITH  NOTES  AND  ADDITIONS  ADAPTING  IT  TO  AMERICAN  POOD  &  CLIMATE 

BY  A.  B.  ALLEN, 

Editor  of   tlie   American  Agriculturist. 

ILLUSTRATED    WITH    NUMEROUS    ENGRAVINGS. 

CONTENTS. 

Chap.  T. — Stabling,  Construction  of  Stables,!  of, — Principles  of  Feeding',  Practice  of  Feed- 
Ventilation  of  Stables.  Appendages  of  Stables,  j  ing,   Pasturing,  Soiling,  Feeding    at   Straw 


Chap.  If. — Stable  Operations,  Stable  Men, 
Grooming  Operations  of  Decoration,  Manage- 
ment of  the  Feet,  Operations  in  the  Stable. 

Chap.  III. — Stable  Restraints,  Accidents, 
Habits,  Vices. 

Chap.  IV.— Warmth. 

Chap.  V. — Food — Articles  of,  Composition 
of,  Preparation  of,  Assimilation  of,  Indigestion 


Yard. 

Chap.  VI.— Water. 

Chap.  VII. — Service,  General  Preparation 
for  Work,  Physiology  of  Muscular  Exertion, 
Preparation  for  Fast  Work,  Treatment  after 
Work,  Accidents  of  Work,  Repose. 

Chap.  VIII. — Management  of  Diseased  and 
Defective  Horses,  Medical  Attendance. 


"  I  have  aimed  in  this  Work  TO  MAKE  PRACTICE  THE  MASTER  OF  THEORY,  and  have 
endeavored  to  arrange  the  whole  subject  into  divisions  which  will  render  every  part  of  it 
easily  understood,  and  easily  referred  to  by  every  one.': — Author's  Preface. 

"The  Horse  has  been  a  favorite  study  with  me  from  childhood,  and  for  twenty  years  I 
have  been  more  or  less  engaged  in  breeding  and  rearing  them,  on  my  own  farm,  and  break- 
ing and  fitting  them  for  market.  I  also  had,  during  a  residence  of  two  years  in  Europe,  the 
advantage  of  Studying  the  Stable  Economy  of  large  Military  Establishments,  and  to  inform 
myself  by  personal  inspection  on  the  subject  of  the  Horse  in  general,  and  particularly  his 
rearing  and  stable  treatment,  and  in  so  doing  examined  alike  the  Thorough  Bred,  the  Hun- 
ter, the  Roadster,  the  Farm  and  the  Dray  Horse.     A.  B.  Allen." — American  Editor. 


Tlie  Horse's  Foot,  and  How  to  keep  it  Sound. 

WITH    ILLUSTRATIOT43. 

BIT    WILLIAM    MILES. 


Price  :  Paper,  Twenty-five  Cents.     Cbth,  Fifty  Cents. 


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